U.S. Capitol police arrested 11 HIV activists and charged them with “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding” for protesting outside of a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on Wednesday. The protestors targeted Peter Marocco, deputy administrator-designate for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the government agency that oversees all U.S. foreign aid.

Peter Marocco, Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the United States Department of State, is a known Trump loyalist who has spearheaded various initiatives by the Trump administration to terminate U.S. foreign aid programs. 

Related

Supreme Court rejects Trump’s appeal to freeze foreign aid funding
HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts around the globe have been devastated by the funding halt.

In one of his more recent moves, Marocco notified UNAIDS, the joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, that the Trump Administration will cancel its funding of the program. In his notice, Marocco stated that the action was taken “for the convenience of the US government” and “for alignment with agency priorities and national interest.”.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

HIV activists opposed to Marocco’s actions gathered in the Rayburn House Office Building outside the committee’s meeting room. The activists chanted, “Marocco has blood on his hands.” They also held posters reading “Marocco lies people with AIDS die,” “Marocco’s homophobia transphobia kills,” and “Marocco’s ‘waiver’ is a deadly lie.”

The waiver refers to a claim by Trump officials that any of the 10,000 defunded USAID programs could simply apply for a waiver to have their funds unfrozen. At least half a dozen programs that have received waivers say that their funds have remained frozen nonetheless.

Earlier this week, USAID official Nick Enrich was forcibly placed on leave after sending USAID workers a memo blaming the Trump Administration for the funding freeze, writing, “This will no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale,” and adding, “The number of deaths attributable to the loss of USAID funding and support is not known at this time.”

A similar protest occurred on February 26, when more than 30 HIV activists and former foreign aid workers staged a sit-in in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The demonstration was in response to Congress’s failure to protect foreign aid programs as well as the Trump Administration — aided by unelected billionaire Elon Musk — freezing all USIAD funding, including funds for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an HIV-prevention program that has been credited with saving millions of lives.

The activists demanded full restoration of PEPFAR funding and warned of the negative outcomes from the funding freeze. Those protestors chanted and held signs that read, “Save USAID, Save Lives” and “US Congress Kills People With AIDS Worldwide.”

At least 21 demonstrators were arrested at that protest. Capitol Police charged arrestees with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding. The law forbids groups of 20 or more people from protesting on U.S. Capitol grounds without a permit. Permits aren’t given to groups seeking to disrupt governmental proceedings.

The protest also marked the one-month anniversary of President Trump’s Executive Order “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid” in which he announced his intention to freeze humanitarian assistance and foreign aid. Since then, PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African Nations have suspended services due to a lack of U.S. funding. 

The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected President Trump’s emergency request to withhold billions in foreign aid, as Congress had already approved the money and the Constitution prohibits. However, it remains to be seen whether Trump will follow the high court ruling.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.