President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)’s nomination to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

The Associated Press noted Trump in a Truth Social post said it was “essential to maintain every Republican seat in Congress.”

Republicans currently have a narrow 218-213 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Special elections to fill the seats that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) vacated when they joined the Trump-Vance administration and resigned respectively will take place on April 1 in Florida.

“Elise Stefanik is truly a great leader and a devoted patriot,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a statement. “Today’s selfless decision shows America what those of us who work with her already know. She is deeply devoted to her country and fully committed to see President Trump’s agenda succeed in Congress.”

“It is well known Republicans have a razor-thin House majority, and Elise’s agreement to withdraw her nomination will allow us to keep one of the toughest, most resolute members of our conference in place to help drive forward President Trump’s America First policies,” he added. “There is no doubt she would have served with distinction as our ambassador to the United Nations, but we are grateful for her willingness to sacrifice that position and remain in Congress to help us save the country.”

Stefanik, 40, has represented New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015. She later became chair of the House Republican Conference.

Stefanik in 2019 voted for the Equality Act, but she opposed it in 2021. Stefanik in 2022 is among the dozens of Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act that then-President Joe Biden signed.

Stefanik, among other things, has also been outspoken against antisemitism on college campuses.

Trump has not said who he will nominate to become U.N. ambassador. Johnson in his statement said he will “invite her to return to the leadership table” of the House Republican Conference “immediately.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima on Monday said 6.3 million more people around the world will die of AIDS-related complications over the next four years if the U.S. does not fully restore its foreign assistance.

“[If] the U.S. assistance for HIV is not restored after the pause and is not replaced by other funding, and we have not heard of other governments pledging to fill the gap, there will be an additional, in the next four years, 6.3 million more AIDS-related deaths,” said Byanyima during a press conference in Geneva.

The Trump-Vance administration in January froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.

The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. Byanyima on Monday confirmed these closures.

“This sudden withdrawal of U.S. funding has led to the shutting down of many clinics, laying off thousands of health workers,” she said. “These are nurses, doctors, lab technicians, pharmacy workers, all kind of data entrists. It’s all a lot.”

Byanyima told reporters this loss of funding could translate into an estimated 2,000 more HIV infections a day.

She said the cuts have disproportionately impacted HIV prevention and treatment efforts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Byanyima further stressed LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups have been left even more vulnerable to the epidemic.

“Since there was a waiver to PEPFAR, we’ve seen some services coming back, particularly treatment services, but challenges are there, particularly for key populations,” she said. “These people who have been served by special services that help them overcome stigma, discrimination, and criminalization: I’m talking of LGBTQ people, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and as I said girls and young women.”

“Prevention services are not coming back that easily because … in addition to the cuts, there is also a push back on rights and people who have been experiencing discrimination, stigma, who are criminalized are afraid to come for services to places where they might face discrimination,” added Byanyima. “So, we’re seeing the centers that were providing them with prevention services not reopening for fear that this might not be consistent with the new guidelines.”

Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR. Byanyima noted it has saved 26 million lives. (Congress did not reauthorize PEPFAR before Wednesday’s deadline.)

“The United States has been an incredible partner for us, UNAIDS, (and) of course (the) Global Fund, working closely with their PEPFAR program,” she said.

The State Department on Wednesday declined to comment on Byanyima’s remarks.

India’s premier literary institution on March 7 announced it would allow LGBTQ poets to participate in its marquee Festival of Letters in New Delhi.

The Sahitya Akademi, often seen as a mirror of the government’s cultural agenda, for the first time allowed these poets into a high-profile poetry reading at the Rabindra Bhavan. They shared the stage with more than 700 writers across 50 languages.

Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat kicked off the Festival of Letters with Mahesh Dattani, the acclaimed English-language playwright famed for his provocative works, as the main guest. Dubbed Asia’s grandest literary gathering, the Sahitya Akademi took place over six days under the “Indian Literary Traditions” theme.

The 2025 Festival of Letters showcased a sweeping range of voices — young writers, women writers, Dalit authors from marginalized castes, Northeast Indian scribes, tribal poets, and LGBTQ poets — cementing its reputation as a literary kaleidoscope. 

Kalki Subramaniam, a leading transgender rights activist and author, on March 9 chaired a literary session titled “Discussion on Literary Works of LGBTQ Writers in the 21st Century,” which spotlighted contemporary queer voices.

“It was enriching to listen to the profound thoughts of LGBT writers from various parts of the country in their speeches,” said Subramaniam. “The session was particularly memorable with the participation of A. Revathi Amma from Tamil Nadu, Reshma Prasad from Bihar, Sanjana Simon from New Delhi, and Devika Devendra Manglamukhi and Shivin from Uttar Pradesh and Aksaya K Rath from Orissa.”

Subramaniam discussed how global politics shape gender rights and the persistent erasure of trans identity, urging a unified push for solidarity within the LGBTQ community. She stressed the vital need to elevate queer works and writers, casting their voices as essential to the literary vanguard.

“It was a pleasure to meet great writers from around the country in the festival as well as meet my writer activist friends Sajana Simon and Revathi Amma after a long time,” said Subramaniam. 

The government on March 12, 1954, formally established the Sahitya Akademi. A government resolution outlined its mission as a national entity tasked with advancing Indian literature and upholding rigorous literary standards; a mandate it has pursued for seven decades.

The Sahitya Akademi in 2018 broke ground in Kolkata, hosting the country’s first exclusive gathering of trans writers, a landmark nod to queer voices in Indian literature. 

Hoshang Dinshaw Merchant, India’s pioneering openly gay poet and a leading voice in the nation’s gay liberation movement, on March 9 recited a poem at the Festival of Letters, his verses carrying the weight of his decades-long quest for queer recognition. He later thanked the session’s chair for welcoming the community, a gesture that underscored the event’s third day embrace of diverse voices.

The Sahitya Akademi in 2024 honored K. Vaishali with the Yuva Puraskar for her memoir “Homeless: Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India,” a raw account of navigating queerness and neurodivergence. Vaishali in a post-win interview reflected on India’s deep-seated conservatism around sexuality, noting she wrote from a place of relative safety — an upper-caste privilege that shielded her as she bared her truth. The award, she said, was the Akademi’s indelible seal on her lived experience, a validation no one could challenge.

The Sahitya Akademi’s inclusion of LGBTQ writers in its main program this year jars with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s conservative stance, which, in 2023, opposed same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court, arguing it erodes Indian family values. Yet, under Shekhawat, the Sahitya Akademi’s spotlight on queer voices at the Rabindra Bhavan suggests it could be a tentative crack in a regime typically rooted in tradition.

The Festival of Letters hosted a translators’ meeting on March 10, spotlighting P. Vimala’s 2024 award-winning Tamil translation of Nalini Jameela’s “Autobiography of a Sex Worker,” a work steeped in marginalized voices that include queer perspectives.

This platform gained significant support from the BJP-led government, with Shekhawat securing a 15 percent budget increase to ₹47 crore ($5.63 million) in 2024. In Tamil Nadu state, however, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, has long opposed such cross-linguistic efforts, fearing dilution of Tamil identity amid decades of anti-Hindi sentiment — a tension the Sahitya Akademi’s inclusive showcase sought to bypass.

‘The Akademi is very inclusive and has a friendly festival ambience,” Subramaniam told the Washington Blade.