“Lives literally hang in the balance.”
The U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday morning passed a budget bill that explicitly targets health care for all transgender people, not just youth, and in other ways targets LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV and people living on limited incomes. Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings issued the following statement:
“Early this morning, under cover of darkness, the House of Representatives by a razor-thin margin of one vote approved a horrifically cruel and dangerous budget that explicit targets the transgender community and in many other respects poses tremendous risk to the LGBTQ+ community, everyone living with HIV and those living on limited incomes. It strips all funding for trans health care from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for transgender people of all ages – a startling escalation from prior efforts to restrict trans health care for young people only — and also bans those services under the Affordable Care Act.
“This unconscionable bill hollows out programs that serve the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, all to benefit the richest. It is estimated 13.7 million people will lose health coverage under this bill, and we know that will hit our community disproportionately, specifically including those living with HIV.
“This budget’s ‘bottom line’ will be increased deaths in LGBTQ+ and HIV+ communities, as well as for people living on limited incomes from all backgrounds. We call upon the U.S. Senate to reject this heartless attack on the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV. Lives literally hang in the balance.”