In a tumultuous start to September, a wave of political, legislative, and healthcare developments has sent shockwaves through the LGBTQ community and those fighting to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. From heated town halls in Texas to sweeping federal budget proposals, the landscape for LGBTQ rights and public health is shifting rapidly—and not always for the better.
On September 1 and 2, 2025, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) faced a hostile crowd at a town hall meeting in Houston. According to Nexstar Media, protesters—whom Crenshaw described as “about fifty leftists” among 400 attendees—disrupted his remarks by shouting, holding up red signs, and demanding answers about his vote for President Trump's controversial tax and spending bill passed on July 4, 2025. The bill, which includes cuts to Medicaid, has drawn the ire of activists and constituents alike. Some protesters also called for the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, further fueling the tense atmosphere.
Crenshaw, undeterred, accused the protesters of being Democrats from outside his district and dismissed their concerns. “They demanded that we raise everyone’s taxes, give free paychecks to able-bodied adults, and sneered at the success of the flood mitigation projects we’ve done that have saved lives and property,” he wrote on X. He emphasized the importance of flood mitigation in Kingwood, Houston, and criticized the demonstrators for not understanding the stakes, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Crenshaw doubled down on the bill’s work requirements for welfare, stating, “You have to be an adult with no disabilities, no other issues, and no dependents under 15. You have to refuse to volunteer or look for a job or even take a part-time job. Basically, you have to be pretty dang lazy. That’s who we kicked off.” He claimed the measure would save taxpayers $1 trillion and insisted, “80 percent of Americans agree with this idea that there should be work requirements for welfare.”
While Crenshaw’s town hall highlighted local discontent, a much broader and potentially devastating development was unfolding in Washington. On September 1, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee released its Fiscal Year 2026 funding bill, proposing to slash at least $1.7 billion from domestic HIV prevention, treatment, and care programs. According to the Washington Blade, the bill would eliminate all federal funding for HIV prevention in the U.S., including the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative—an effort originally established with bipartisan support during President Trump’s first term. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Program would also see a cut of $525 million, or 20%, and the entire $1 billion prevention funding at the CDC—including $220 million for the EHE initiative—would be wiped out.
Carl Schmidt, executive director of the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute, was quick to denounce the proposed cuts. “This is not a bill for making America healthy again, but a disastrous bill that will reignite HIV in the United States,” Schmidt said in a statement on September 1. He warned that eliminating all HIV prevention “means the end of state and local testing and surveillance programs, educational programs, and linkage to lifesaving care and treatment, along with PrEP.” Schmidt added that the cuts would “translate into an increased number of new HIV infections, which will be costlier to treat in the long run.”
Amid these sweeping budget proposals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was rocked by high-profile resignations. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, resigned on August 27. In a scathing social media post, he wrote, “I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.” Daskalakis, praised for his work during the mpox crisis and his advocacy against stigma, accused the administration of “radical non-transparency” and “unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end.” He was one of three senior officials to resign following President Trump’s firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who herself accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “weaponizing public health.”
As the federal government moves to dismantle key public health programs, access to groundbreaking HIV prevention medications is also under threat. On August 21, CVS Health announced it would not add Yeztugo, a new FDA-approved HIV prevention drug, to its commercial coverage plans—at least for now. Developed by Gilead Sciences and approved in June 2025, Yeztugo is a twice-yearly injectable PrEP medication that has demonstrated greater than 99 percent effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. Despite its promise, the drug’s annual retail price of $26,218 without insurance has advocates worried about access. Carl Schmidt called CVS Health’s decision “shameful,” urging the company and regulators to ensure compliance with federal and state PrEP coverage requirements. Gilead, for its part, aims to secure 75% insurer coverage for Yeztugo by the end of 2025 and 90% by June 2026.
Meanwhile, the legislative assault on LGBTQ rights has intensified. The ACLU tracked 339 anti-LGBTQ bills by February 2025 alone, a record pace. According to the Washington Blade, these bills—clustered largely in conservative states like Texas—now target not only youth but also adults, with efforts to restrict same-sex marriage, hospital policies, and access to gender-affirming care. Texas, for instance, introduced 32 anti-trans bills on the first day of pre-filing for 2025. Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, and Illinois are considering or have enacted laws that define gender strictly as “male” or “female” based on sex at birth, excluding recognition of transgender and other gender-diverse individuals.
President Trump’s administration has accelerated these changes at the federal level. Executive Order 14168, issued on the first day of his second term, redefined “sex” across all federal policy as a fixed, binary category determined at conception. This has led to the removal of gender self-identification options from passports and halted funding for “gender ideology,” including gender-affirming care. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, under pressure from the administration, changed its eligibility rules to prohibit transgender women from competing in women’s sports, aligning with Trump’s executive order. Similar restrictions are being considered by other sports governing bodies, and more than two dozen states now have laws barring trans women and girls from participating in school sports.
Efforts to challenge these policies have met with fierce resistance. In Texas, House Democrats broke quorum by fleeing the state, preventing Republicans from passing both gerrymandered redistricting plans and anti-transgender legislation such as the “Trans Bathroom Ban.” Equality Texas and other advocates argue that such bills put both trans and cis women at risk and liken the legislation to Jim Crow-era discrimination—this time based on gender identity.
Amid these battles, the struggle for access to accurate information and community support continues. LGBTQ media outlets like Gay Parent Magazine and the Washington Blade have faced organized attacks and hacking attempts, which editors believe are politically motivated. These incidents have been exacerbated by changes in content moderation policies at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, which LGBTQ advocates say have rolled back protections and opened the door to increased hate speech.
As the nation heads into a contentious midterm election cycle, the stakes for LGBTQ rights, public health, and social justice have rarely been higher. With sweeping budget cuts, restrictive legislation, and political polarization on the rise, advocates warn that the progress of recent decades is at risk of being undone. But as the voices at Crenshaw’s town hall and the halls of Congress show, the fight for equality and health is far from over.
