As temperatures rise in Washington, so does the pressure on the D.C. government to pass a budget for the 2026 financial year.

The Washington Blade followed up with Heidi Ellis, coordinator of the DC LGBT Budget Coalition, to discuss progress made — and the steps still needed — to ensure Washington’s LGBTQ community remains a priority for the D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office.

Asked about the current state of the budget, Ellis was clear: the dust hasn’t settled. The process is still unfolding. Still, she shared that the overall city budget has been cut.

“There was a large cut in the mayor’s budget for Financial Year 2026 — over a million dollars,” Ellis said. “We took a hit of over $6 million in this in the city due to the federal funding cuts.”

According to Ellis, the cuts are due in large part to declining local tax revenue and a Republican-controlled federal government that has shown little support for LGBTQ-specific funding.

“The biggest challenge is the city is in a different place financially,” Ellis said. “The city’s CFO has now had two years plus in a row of forecasts of lower revenue for the city in general, and then we had congressional interference when they cut a billion dollars out of our budget — that still has not been resolved on the federal level. That happened during the continuing resolution on the Hill to pass like their spending bill, which has not been resolved. The mayor had to essentially cut a billion dollars out of the FY 25 budget to make it balanced. That was huge, and then the city is looking at lower revenue over the next couple of years.”

Although the entire city faces challenges, Ellis said the intersectional needs of LGBTQ residents — especially those who are Black, brown, low-income, or otherwise marginalized — demand specific, equitable funding.

“Whatever issues the city has, whether it be housing instability, food insecurity, safety issues, they are always exacerbated when you think about it through the lens of queer people — specifically Black and brown queer folks and folks that are low to no income,” she said. “So the folks that are living at the margins of our community are always going to feel whatever is happening 10 times more. And this administration has brought in a lot of consternation and fear to the city.”

Still, despite the broader financial setbacks, there have been some “wins.”

Ellis named five of the 12 sitting council members who have stepped up to support the goals outlined by the LGBT Budget Coalition: Council Members Matthew Frumin, Christina Henderson, Brianne Nadeau, Zachary Parker, and Robert C. White, Jr.

Each of these members has offered support through their committee work — addressing areas from healthcare to homelessness.

Parker, the council’s only gay member, helped fight for expanded funding for the youth homelessness continuum. A 2024 study found that 40 percent of unhoused youth in D.C. identify as LGBTQ.

Frumin has advocated for additional funds for transgender workforce programs, the youth homelessness continuum, and the D.C. Department of Human Services, which provides critical support for low-income residents.

Henderson backed the LGBT Budget Coalition’s healthcare and HIV-related goals by pushing for expanded hours at the D.C. Health and Wellness Center.

“She’s actually recommending now that they be open on one week night and then two Saturdays a month,” Ellis said. “That’s a huge win, because that allows for more people to access that care.”

Nadeau championed continued funding for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which provides $1 million annually in grants to LGBTQ organizations. White advocated for sustaining support for trans workforce programs like Project LEAP, which connects gender-diverse residents with job coaches and employers to build long-term economic stability.

“So far I would say we’ve gotten about four out of the seven to eight things we asked for fulfilled,” Ellis explained. “We were able to get a good chunk of that back to restore some services — like permanent supportive housing and extended transitional housing.”

Ellis emphasized that the LGBT Budget Coalition’s success stems in part from community engagement and platforms like the Blade.

“We launched the letter writing campaign back in April that generated thousands of letters that went directly to the mayor and the council. It was literally folks just signing up and saying, ‘We support this,’ and it automatically created letters. It was a major organizing tool.”

“We did an op-ed in the Blade that ran both in the print and in the online version — that got a lot of traction. Our coalition members have been pushing out what the needs are through their social media and have been testifying before the council through the oversight hearings and the budget hearings. And remember — we just had WorldPride. We reminded them [council members], you all are coming out and waving the flag and taking photo ops for our community, you can’t do that in one breath and then take away our funding.”

Still, critical needs remain unmet — particularly around HIV healthcare funding.

“The HIV funding just continues to close the gap,” Ellis said. “That’s the one that it’s such a big gap that even with the great work of Council Member Henderson is not enough. She even highlighted in her committee report that she’s asking for the Committee of the Whole, which is the whole council, to supplement some of that funding — understanding just how much of a loss we took. The gap is still wide and needs additional funding.”

Beyond HIV-related services, Ellis noted several key areas that still require urgent attention in the final version of the budget. Among them: restoring the D.C. Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which provides housing stability for the city’s most vulnerable; reforming the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to better support tenant-led housing solutions; and restoring funding for LGBTQ mental health services, which have faced significant cuts in recent years.

The coalition is also pushing for the continued support of LGBTQ+ services administered through the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, including a $450,000 allocation for the Violence Prevention and Response Team initiative. In addition, Ellis emphasized the need for full enforcement of the city’s Language Access Act — and for its expansion to ensure Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, making D.C. services more inclusive for all residents.

Ellis acknowledged the political climate may feel daunting, but pointed to the resilience of the LGBTQ community — both historically and today.

“It’s just a constant reminder that we have been here before,” Ellis said. “We had the Lavender Scare. We had Stonewall. We had the AIDS epidemic. This community has gone through peril, and it continues around me how resilient we are — and actually not just resilient for the sake of being resilient, but that we actually build. We don’t just survive, but we build. I would say that the city has taken a hit, and we’re all trying to figure out how best to move forward and not lose our values.”

She added that while the LGBT Budget Coalition is united in its platform, it does not claim to speak for every LGBTQ person in D.C.

“The coalition is a voice that is united because we wanted to make sure we walk in lockstep, but we do not represent all of the LGBTQ community. We know there’s many factions. We are multifaceted as a community, but we do have a wide range of folks represented in our coalition, and we do our best to advocate with a wider lens and also make sure that we’re thinking about the most marginalized folks in our community. I just wanted to clarify where we enter this process, and I would just say that we’re going to continue to fight. It’s Pride month. It’s crazy that we’re going back to some of these original arguments around humanity, and whether we’re worth this dollar amount, but that’s where we are. But we’re not giving up. So I would just encourage everybody not to give up and get involved where they can get involved.”

When asked how individuals can support the LGBT Budget Coalition’s goals, Ellis had a clear answer: speak up.

“I would just argue for folks to email their council members and call their council members to show up. Just letting them know that you support funding of key services for LGBTQ folks. You don’t have to be part of our coalition to do that. These issues intersect; housing is an issue for all, healthcare is an issue for all. We’re just asking for it to be equitable.”