State Department
US global LGBTQ, intersex rights envoy speaks at Mexico City conference
Jessica Stern reiterated condemnation of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Mexico City through Sunday.
MEXICO CITY — The special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad on Thursday said politicians around the world target LGBTQ and intersex people as a way to “distract” from their own governance failures.
Jessica Stern spoke at the opening of the LGBTI Political Leaders from the Americas and the Caribbean Conference in Mexico City that the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute co-organized with advocacy groups from Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Honduras and Brazil.
She once again condemned Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act that President Yoweri Museveni signed in May.
The bill contains a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality” and criminalizes the “promotion of homosexuality” with up to 20 years in prison.
“One might argue that a meeting like this could be labelled promotion of homosexuality and we could all be held criminally liable for being in this conference room today,” said Stern.
“[The Anti-Homosexuality Act] includes a duty to report clause that would require doctors, landlords and even family members to report anyone that they have reason to suspect is homosexual and that basically creates a surveillance state for all LGBTQI+ persons just for being,” she added.
Stern said the Anti-Homosexuality Act and similar laws around the world contain provisions that “are intentionally and explicitly vague because the goal is not to keep anyone safe from LGBTQI+ people.” Stern added politicians use hate speech, blackmail, extortion and violence to target LGBTQ and intersex people and make them into “boogeymen.”
“The goal is to distract from crushing issues like corruption and poverty and climate change that don’t have easy solutions,” she said. “Scapegoating LGBTQI+ persons has real consequences. Turning an entire group of people into a threat to your society is not just a useful way to manipulate a domestic populace, in a world connected through social media the threats metastases regionally and globally.”
Stern in her speech cited Human Rights Campaign statistics that indicate more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures in 2023, with nearly half of them specifically targeting transgender and nonbinary people. Stern noted state lawmakers have approved 70 of them: Fifteen ban gender-affirming care for minors, four “censor” school curricula and two “target drag performances.”
“What an absolute tragedy,” said Stern.
“The truth is the United States is not alone in these anti-LGBTQI attacks,” she added.
Stern noted Thalía Rodríguez, a prominent trans activist, is one of 32 LGBTQ or intersex people who were reported murdered in Honduras in the first 10 months of 2022. Stern also referenced statistics from Colombia Diversa, a Colombian LGBTQ and intersex rights group, that indicate 41 LGBTQ and intersex people — six of whom were activists — were killed in the South American country between January and August 2021.
“This is completely unacceptable, and this is why we come together in rooms like this,” said Stern.
Stern in her speech also highlighted LGBTQ and intersex rights advances in the Americas and the Caribbean.
She noted Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis and Barbados decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in 2022. Stern pointed out the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2021 ruled a law that seeks to combat domestic and gender-based violence “must be valid for all trans women.”
Stern also referenced the 20 Mexican states that now allow people to update their names and gender markers “via a simple administrative process.”
“This region is setting an example that is inspiring others around the world,” she said.
President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a memo that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of his administration’s overall foreign policy. These efforts include support for marriage equality in countries where activists say it is possible through legislation or the judicial process.
The U.S. has imposed visa restrictions against Ugandan officials after Museveni signed their country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Stern in her speech said the Biden-Harris administration has pledged to combat so-called conversion in the U.S. and around the world. Stern also noted the Global Equality Fund, a U.S.-led initiative that seeks to promote LGBTQ and intersex rights around the world, has given more than $115 million to recipients in more than 100 countries since 2011.
“That would not be possible without the partnership of many governments in this region,” she said.
Stern also noted she is the highest-ranking lesbian woman at the State Department.
State Department
Protesters demand US fully restore PEPFAR funding
Activists blocked intersection outside State Department on Thursday

Dozens of HIV/AIDS activists on Thursday protested outside the State Department and demanded U.S. officials fully restore President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funding.
The activists — members of Housing Works, Health GAP, and the Treatment Action Group — blocked an intersection for an hour. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell told the Washington Blade that police did not make any arrests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to an executive order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. Rubio later issued a waiver that allows PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Blade on Wednesday 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.
“PEPFAR is a program that has saved 26 million lives and changed the trajectory of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic,” said Housing Works CEO Charles King in a press release. “The recent freeze on its funding is not just a bureaucratic decision; it is a death sentence for millions who rely on these life-saving treatments. We cannot allow decades of progress to be undone. The U.S. must immediately reaffirm its commitment to global health and human dignity by restoring PEPFAR funding.”
“We demand Secretary Rubio immediately reverse his deadly, illegal stop-work order, which has already disrupted life-saving HIV services worldwide,” added Russell. “Any waiver process is too little, too late.”
State Department
Transgender people removed from State Department travel page
Previous administration used LGBTQI+ acronym

The State Department has eliminated references to transgender travelers from its travel advisories.
The International Travel tab that the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs maintains has a section for “LGB Travelers.”
“LGB travelers can face special challenges abroad,” reads the introduction. “Laws and attitudes in some countries may affect safety and ease of travel. Many countries do not recognize same-sex marriage. Many countries also only recognize the male and female sex markers in passports and do not have IT systems at ports of entry that can accept other sex markers. About 70 countries still consider consensual same-sex relations a crime. In some of these countries, individuals who engage in same-sex sexual relations may face severe punishment.”
Steven Romo of NBC News and other reporters have noted the same page before President Donald Trump took office used the LGBTQI+ acronym to describe the community. State Department officials with whom the Washington Blade spoke during the Biden-Harris administration routinely used the LGBTQI+ acronym.
The State Department website is replacing LGBTQI+ with simply LGB
Last month vs today pic.twitter.com/U4U0DHMasR
— Steven Romo (@stevenromo) January 31, 2025
Trump since he took office on Jan. 20 has issued a number of executive orders that specifically target trans people.
One directive bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers, reversing a policy that took effect in 2022.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week 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 on nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending. The waiver does not apply to “activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences” and “gender or DEl ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance.”
State Department
PEPFAR, other ‘life-saving humanitarian’ programs can operate under State Department waiver
Executive order froze nearly all US foreign aid spending for 90 days

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday 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 on nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending.
Rubio on Jan. 24 directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to an executive order that President Donald Trump signed after his inauguration. The Washington Blade obtained a copy of the waiver that Rubio on Tuesday issued to “all implementing U.S. government agencies, partners, and NGOs.”
“For the purposes of carrying out the president’s executive order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, I am approving an additional waiver of the pause under the executive order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid and my subsequent direction of Jan. 24, 2025, for life-saving humanitarian assistance during the period of the review,” wrote Rubio. “Implementers of existing life-saving humanitarian assistance programs should continue or resume work if they have stopped, subject to the following directions. This resumption is temporary in nature, and except by separate waiver or as required to carry out this waiver, no new contracts shall be entered into.”
Rubio adds the “life-saving humanitarian assistance” waiver “applies to core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such assistance.” He notes the waiver does not apply to “activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences” and “gender or DEl ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance.”
The waiver does not specifically cite PEPFAR, but UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in a statement welcomed it.
“UNAIDS welcomes this waiver from the U.S. government which ensures that millions of people living with HIV can continue to receive life-saving HIV medication during the assessment of US foreign development assistance,” she said. “This urgent decision recognizes PEPFAR’s critical role in the AIDS response and restores hope to people living with HIV.”
A memo the State Department released on Wednesday defended the decision to freeze most U.S. foreign aid spending. It also notes the waiver that Rubio issued.
“It is impossible to evaluate programs on autopilot because the participants — both inside and outside of government — have little to no incentive to share programmatic-level details so long as the dollars continue to flow,” reads the memo. “A temporary pause, with commonsense waivers for truly life-threatening situations, is the only way to scrutinize and prevent waste.”
The Blade has reached out to the State Department for comment on the waiver and its impact on PEPFAR.
-
Opinions4 days ago
I’m nervous about D.C.’s ability to stage WorldPride
-
Canada3 days ago
Canadian LGBTQ group cancels WorldPride participation over Trump policies
-
Out & About1 day ago
Camp Rehoboth Theatre Company kicks off new season
-
Commentary3 days ago
Trump’s return threatens Uganda’s gender equality and trans community