April 29, 2026
Congressional Champions Introduce Legislation to Block Trump’s
Draconian Expanded Global Gag Rules
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Council for Global Equality (CGE), a staffed coalition of more
than 45 U.S.-based organizations that work at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and the
human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, welcomed the bicameral introduction of the Protecting
Human Rights and Public Health in Foreign Assistance Act. Led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in the U.S. Senate and Representatives Meng, Frankel, DeGette,
Jayapal, Jacobs, and Meeks in the U.S. House of Representatives, the legislation would block the
Trump administration’s draconian expanded Global Gag Rules, a sweepinging policy finalized in
late January that weaponizes U.S. foreign assistance to restrict not only abortion-related
services and speech, but also those serving or recognizing transgender, nonbinary, and intersex
persons as well as those seen as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The expanded Global Gag Rules pose far-reaching and life-threatening consequences for
LGBTQI+ people around the world, as well as women, girls, and other marginalized
communities. By conditioning funding on entities’ agreement to limit services, partnerships, and
speech, recipients of U.S. foreign assistance from the Department of State are forced to choose
between accepting critical funding and providing comprehensive, evidence-based care and full
recognition of the human rights of others. In practice, this undermines HIV prevention and
treatment programs, access to sexual and reproductive health services, and broader efforts to
combat stigma, discrimination, and violence, particularly in countries where LGBTQI+ people
already face criminalization and systemic barriers to care.
Previous iterations of the policy disrupted essential health systems and civil society networks,
often with deadly consequences for LGBTQI+ persons, and this expanded version risks
deepening those harms manyfold. In just one recent example, a key partner in Rwanda was told
that the targeted HIV programs they were running would violate the DEI restrictions. They had
to give up U.S. funding, and their programs for key populations have ended, creating gaps in
care and threatening decades of progress to end the HIV epidemic.
“Using taxpayer money to export the Trump administration’s anti-trans, anti-science, and
anti-abortion ideological agenda isn’t just immoral – it’s antithetical to efficient, effective, and
rights-based foreign assistance,” said Beirne Roose-Snyder, Senior Policy Fellow of the Council
for Global Equality. “We are grateful to Representatives Meng, Frankel, DeGette, Jayapal, Jacobs
and Meeks and Senators Shaheen and Rosen for their leadership in introducing this bill, which
would block President Trump’s malicious, so-called ‘Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign
Assistance’ policy. No one should be forced to choose between receiving U.S. foreign assistance
to deliver lifesaving services for some and standing up for public health and the human rights of
all, without exception.”
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