Two years ago, Nyonna Byers, a transgender woman from Portsmouth, Va., founded Ending Transmission of Sexual Infections (ETSI) Health Clinic to support a community she saw struggling with rising HIV rates. Now, as costs continue to climb and funding for HIV healthcare initiatives is being cut across the United States, Byers says her transgender identity has made it harder to secure the financial support her clinic needs to survive.

Portsmouth, with just under 100,000 people, is right across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk.

“We’re an HIV-led organization here in Portsmouth, providing services throughout the Hampton Roads area,” Byers told the Blade. “As a trans-led organization—with me as the founder and executive director—I’ve received a lot of rejection when it comes to funding. That’s one of the main reasons why we’re struggling to keep the clinic open. Without funding, we can’t provide HIV treatment or care, and then we’re just a theoretical organization—we can’t be impactful in the community we serve.”

She said the data clearly shows a need for increased investment in HIV care in Portsmouth, but the response from leadership has not matched the urgency of the crisis.

“Portsmouth is one of the smallest cities with one of the highest HIV rates, and there are very few HIV-led organizations or clinics here. The need is urgent, but the response doesn’t match it. We’re doing the work on the ground, but we’re not getting the support to sustain it. That disconnect is what’s hurting people the most.”

That need, Byers explained, continues to grow as ETSI struggles to meet the financial demands of the life-saving work it provides.

Portsmouth has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Virginia, with roughly 736.9 cases per 100,000 people—a rate that exceeds both state and national averages.

“Leaders like the mayor and city council don’t focus on public health or social health. They focus more on development—building the city up physically—rather than investing in the health of the people. I’ve applied for funding multiple times and been denied. Every time I’ve asked for resources, I’ve been turned away.”

When asked why, Byers said the answer felt clear to her.

“I honestly believe I was denied funding because I’m trans. I told the mayor I was going to go public with it, because it’s not fair. We’re on the ground doing the work to end HIV, and we’re still not getting the support we need. That’s not just frustrating—it’s harmful.”

While she said local support has been lacking, Byers noted that the state has stepped in—though the funding still falls short of what is needed to sustain the clinic long term.

ETSI Health Clinic was included as a recipient of funding in the Virginia 2027–2028 Senate budget, receiving $50,000 per year from the Virginia General Fund. Byers specifically credited State Sen. Lillie Louise Lucas with helping secure that funding, which she said did not come from city leadership.

Byers shared that she has given up a lot to keep ETSI afloat, but the costs just keep coming.

“I’ve worked a lot of contracts—jobs paying $30 to $40 an hour—and poured that money into my clinic. But the downside is that I’m struggling personally. I’ve lost cars, I’ve lost a house—I’ve lost a lot to keep this clinic going. This work has cost me almost everything.”

She added that the impact of federal policy shifts is also being felt locally. As the Trump-Vance administration continues to roll back what it has described as unnecessary “DEI” spending, Byers said those decisions are affecting clinics like hers.

There was a time when the clinic was able to receive funding from Sentara Cares, the philanthropic program of Sentara Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Virginia and North Carolina, but now they can’t.

“We had funding from Sentara Cares for three years, and it helped keep us going. Then when DEI initiatives started getting rolled back, that funding stopped. I was told directly that because of federal policy changes, they couldn’t fund the clinic. I broke down during that meeting, because it felt like they were really saying they couldn’t support us because of who we are.”

That lack of funding is compounded by broader gaps in healthcare access in the region. Portsmouth—the ninth most populous city in Virginia—does not have a hospital.

“There’s very limited access to care in Portsmouth. We don’t even have a hospital—people have to be transported to Norfolk. We’ve had high rates of syphilis, and the health department is only open a few days a week. A lot of people don’t trust it, and that leaves entire communities without care.”

Byers made it clear that this is more than a passion project for her—it is her life’s calling, and she would do nearly anything to keep it going.

“To be honest, I would go back to sex work before I let my clinic close. This is something I built from the ground up. I built this clinic with money I earned myself. I’m not going to let it disappear without a fight.”

She also pointed to gaps in education and outreach, which she says exacerbate HIV rates despite the availability of preventive measures.

“There’s almost no marketing or education about PrEP in the Hampton Roads area. If you go to places like D.C. or Atlanta, you see billboards and campaigns—but here, you don’t see anything. If people don’t see it, they don’t know about it. That lack of awareness is putting people at risk.”

It is also a deeply personal fight, she explained.

“I’ve lost friends to HIV. People say you can’t die from HIV anymore, but you can if you’re not in care. I’ve seen it firsthand, and that’s what motivates me to keep going. HIV doesn’t have to be a death sentence—but without support, it can become one.”

The Blade reached out to Portsmouth’s mayor, city council, and city manager for comment but received no response.

Lady Gaga this week took D.C. by storm.

The bisexual icon and LGBTQ rights champion brought “The Mayhem Ball” tour to Capital One Arena on Monday and Tuesday.

“Abracadabra,” “Paparazzi,” “Applause,” and “Bad Romance” are among the songs Lady Gaga performed during the 2 1/2-hour long concert. Lady Gaga also celebrated her many queer fans.

“You are precious to us,” she said on Tuesday night before she performed “Born This Way.”

The author of a biography of a U.S. Catholic priest said to have advocated for support by the Catholic Church of gay Catholics in the early 1970s has called Father Thomas ‘Tom’ Oddo a little known but important figure in the LGBTQ rights movement.

Tyler Bieber, author of the recently published book “Against The Current: Father Tom Oddo And the New American Catholic,” told of Oddo’s life and work on behalf of LGBTQ rights at a March 22 talk before the local LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity Washington.

Among Oddo’s important accomplishments, Bieber said, was his role as a co-founder of the national LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity U.S.A. in 1973 at the age of 29.

But as reported in the prologue of his book, Bieber presented details of the sad news that Oddo died in a fatal car crash in 1989 at the age of 45 in Portland, Ore., where he was serving as the highly acclaimed president of the University of Portland, a Catholic institution.

“He was a major figure in the gay rights movement in the 1970s, an unsung hero of that movement,” Bieber told Dignity Washington members, who assembled for his talk in a meeting room at St. Margaret Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, where they attend their weekly Catholic mass on Sundays.

“And Dignity U.S.A. saw intense growth in membership and visibility” during its early years under Oddo’s leadership, Bieber said. “The story of Father Tom and his contemporaries is a story largely untold in the history of the gay rights movement, but one worth knowing and considering,” he said.

As stated in his book, Bieber told the Dignity Washington gathering Oddo was born and raised in a Catholic family on Long Island, N.Y., and attended a Catholic high school in Flushing Queens. It was at that time when he developed an interest in becoming a priest, according to Bieber.

After studying at the University of Notre Dame and completing his religious studies he was ordained as a priest in 1970 and began his work as a priest in the Boston area, Bieber said. It was around that time, Bieber told the Dignity Washington audience, that gay Catholics approached Oddo to seek advice on how they should interact with the Catholic Church. It was also around that time that Oddo became involved in a group supportive of then gay Catholics that later became a Dignity chapter in Boston.

In a development considered unusual for a Catholic priest, Bieber said Oddo in 1973 testified in support of gay rights bill before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature and collaborated with then Massachusetts gay and lesbian rights advocate Elaine Noble.

In 1982, at the age of 39, Oddo was selected as president of the University of Portland following several years as a college teacher in the Boston area, Bieber’s book states. It says he was seen as a “vibrant and capable administrator who delivered real results to his campus,” adding, “His magnetism was obvious. One student described him as ‘John Kennedyesque’ to the university’s student newspaper.”

 Bieber said that although Oddo was less active with Dignity U.S.A. during his tenure as UP president, he continued his support for gay Catholics and what is now referred to as LGBTQ rights.

“For those that knew him prior to his term at UP, though, he represented something greater than an accomplished university administrator and educator,” Bieber’s book states. “He was a new kind of priest, a gay man living and ministering in a world set loose from tradition by the Second Vatican Council,” the book says.

It was referring to the Vatican gathering of worldwide Catholic leaders from 1962 to 1965 concluding under Pope Paul VI that church observers say modernized church practices to allow far greater participation by the laity and opened the way for sympathetic consideration of gay Catholics.