Trump Curtails Activities of 20 LGBT+ Groups in Haiti

Due to lack of funding amid turmoil at USAID, LGBT+ organizations are deciding to stop programs or close their doors

Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT+) community in Haiti have been left without support since the January 2025 suspension of U.S. aid through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Some twenty Haitian LGBT+ rights organizations, specializing in providing support, guidance, and medical assistance to affected populations, have been forced to reduce their activities.

The American decision comes in a context marked by a lack of local funding for these organizations.

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In a country that is still relatively intolerant of sexual and gender minorities, people find psychological support, training on sexual health and self-acceptance in these institutions.

Lauren’s Ovide, 27, reveals that she participates in one of these activities every year, bringing together between 30 and 50 people.

These programs, sponsored by USAID, among others, through local organizations, are currently at a standstill. « These programs have helped me and others to better accept my sexual orientation, » says Ovide. « It’s discouraging. »

An advertising professional, Ovide saw his contracts for awareness campaigns in favor of, notably, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) on behalf of USAID canceled.

He worked occasionally for organizations such as FOSREF and SEROvie, which worked in the field of HIV in Haiti. But deprived of foreign aid, these organizations were forced to cease their activities and revise their organizational charts.

« I’m currently unemployed, » Ovide laments. « And I’m having trouble making ends meet, let alone supporting my family financially as an only child, as I used to. »

Ovide is also worried about his health. While he has been taking PrEP since 2018 to protect himself against the AIDS virus, he says he’s concerned that the scarcity of this antiretroviral drug is hampering the « regularity of his prevention, » as well as that of hundreds of other affected members.

In January 2025, the US administration uncompromisingly blocked its foreign aid through USAID for so-called diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs, which it deemed “radical and unnecessary.”

A new decision, taken in April 2025, ends 42 humanitarian programs funded by the American agency around the world, equivalent to approximately 1.3 billion dollars, including 5.3 million for Haiti.

Nineteen « formal » LGBT+ organizations spread across Haiti relied heavily on U.S. aid, according to Johnny Lafleur, president of the National Committee for Advocacy of Key Populations in Haiti (CNPPCH).

These programs have helped me and others come to terms with my sexual orientation, Ovide says. It’s discouraging.

Created in 2017, this structure, which brings together the country’s main LGBT+ organizations, campaigns for an inclusive Haitian society, guaranteeing the civil, political, and cultural rights of key people.

« It took the LGBT+ community in Haiti about twenty years to gain and maintain certain achievements, but Donald Trump is about to destroy everything in just three months, » Lafleur told AyiboPost. Lafleur is also the general coordinator of the Youth Against Discrimination and Stigma (AJCDS) association.

Often criticized by Haitian specialists, USAID support was very considerable: in 2024, the agency allocated, for different categories of programs, $416 million to Haiti.

The AJCDS has been hit hard by the American decision.

Since its creation in 2016, the organization has relied on the support of USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to intervene in the area of LGBT+ rights and the response to HIV/AIDS in Haiti through programs focused on care, awareness and prevention.

Faced with the challenges of continuing to finance its operations, half a dozen of the institution’s fifteen employees, including a doctor and a nurse, were dismissed, and more than fifty « peer educators », specialized in supporting and training key populations in Haiti, risk losing their jobs.

Officials say they fear the worst.

« In the coming months, our staff will be limited to just the five founding members. The other employees will likely be laid off, » complains Johnny Lafleur.

In a context of a lack of funding for HIV prevention and treatment programs, particularly for access to PrEP, the risks associated with HIV transmission are increasing, emphasized two organization leaders contacted by AyiboPost.

Sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners and drug addicts, among others, are among the most vulnerable.

In Artibonite, the Haitian Collective for Aid and Support for Social Emancipation (CHAAPES) had to abandon its awareness and prevention program for the benefit of nearly 300 people per month.

According to its executive coordinator, Steven Jean-Gilles, the organization was no longer even able to pay the rent for its premises, which had been covered by PEPFAR since 2019.

In his HIV prevention and control section, Johnny Lafleur reveals that his organization used to conduct screening sessions for approximately 1,800 people each year – including members of the LGBT+ community through programs previously funded by PEPFAR and the Global Fund.

Lacking alternatives, most of these programs were suspended and patients abandoned the intervention centers.

In April 2025, several organizations, including SEROvie, which had been providing community health services to Haitians, including sexual minorities, for over twenty years, had to stop most of its activities after a final notice from USAID on April 4, 2025 informed it that the American agency and its various projects had been dismantled.

At the same time, members of the LGBT+ community in Haiti contacted by AyiboPost say they have noticed a resurgence of discriminatory language against them since the far-right came to power in the United States.

Steven Jean-Gilles, head of CHAAPES, told AyiboPost that members of the population have become « more hostile » to members of the community who are part of his organization in Gonaïves.

According to the official, hostile remarks are regularly made by individuals against CHAAPES members, particularly when the latter go to the organization’s headquarters to work.

« This is a new situation since we established ourselves six years ago in this city, which until now had been very tolerant towards the LGBT+ community, » Jean-Gilles told AyiboPost.

Edison Morilus, a 23-year-old member of the LGBT+ community, told AyiboPost that he has been experiencing thinly veiled threats and verbal attacks in the city and on social media since Trump’s election and the withdrawal of aid.

“Sometimes, after status updates or social media posts, people I don’t know send me private messages to express their hatred and tell me that I no longer had any interest in continuing my “dirty bullshit,” because the president of the most powerful country in the world [the USA] has taken a stand against it,” he reveals.

« It’s sometimes a big psychological shock for me, » Morilus says.

Gérald Marie Alfred, the president of the executive committee of the LGBT+ organization Citizen Action for Social Equality in Haiti (ACESH), based in Artibonite, reports to AyiboPost that two members of the LGBT+ community, who came to request condoms, were brutally turned away from an NGO health care center in Saint-Marc, between the end of January and the beginning of February of this year.

« People present at the scene told them that lubricants and condoms were now reserved for heterosexual people, » Alfred told AyiboPost.

Edison Morilus, a 23-year-old member of the LGBT+ community, told AyiboPost that he has also been experiencing thinly veiled threats and verbal attacks in the city and on social media since Trump’s election in Uncle Sam and the cessation of aid.

Other opportunities that LGBT+ organizations used to enjoy are becoming increasingly rare.

According to Lafleur, calls for proposals for community-related projects were regularly posted on the U.S. Embassy in Haiti’s website. But since January, these opportunities, usually offered several times a year, have disappeared.

Furthermore, he continued to AyiboPost, an awareness campaign, this time sponsored by the International Republican Institute (IRI), whose objective was to obtain a representative quota for LGBT+ people in the next elections in Haiti, has been forced to stop.

Essential prevention tools for community members, such as donations of lubricants and condoms, usually provided by the Foundation for Reproductive Health and Family Education (FOSREF) to the Jacmel-based organization ERITAJ, have declined sharply, according to Merlin Jean, the organization’s assistant coordinator.

Faced with these numerous challenges, officials say they are considering other financing alternatives.

Gérald Marie Alfred, the president of the ACESH executive committee, reported to AyiboPost that the Global Fund, following a meeting held in Panama in mid-May 2025 with, among others, members of the LGBT+ community, is considering taking under its financial wing programs that PEPFAR can no longer subsidize due to new American restrictions since the beginning of the year.

Although nothing is certain yet, this glimmer of hope is shining: Gérald Marie Alfred revealed to AyiboPost that a final decision is expected from the Global Fund on June 30, 2025.

Already deprived of local support – apart from the Konesans ak Libète Foundation (FOKAL) which supported them from time to time – Johnny Lafleur and his LGBT+ organization plan to turn to Canada and European sources of funding to counter the difficult reality.

The manager does not hesitate to use his personal income: in his home in Tabarre, the AJCDS leader says he is now engaged in raising chickens and ducks.

« It’s a way for me to cope with the four years of Trump’s presidency, » he emphasizes.

By : Junior Legrand

Cover |Portrait of American President Donald Trump. (Photo : US today )

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