USAID - American agency has been funding trans propaganda projects around the globe

[Herewegoagain29]

USA ID - the US agency for industrial developement has been suspended by the Trump administration and now that there is scrutiny over what it has been spending the money on. It has a 30 billion dollar budget and I'm sure it may do some good sometimes with the money but it seems like it was ideologically captured by trans ideology under the influence of the US large corperations and pharmaceutical companies.

Some of it's recent funding -
$1.5 million grant to Serbian 'Groupa Izadji' 'Group comeout' to promote LGBTQ workplace practices
£30 million to research HIV transmission among transgender individuals inSouth Africa
Transgender 'healthcare initiatives' in Vietnam and India
$25,000 for and Opera in Colombia to promote transgender representation in the arts
$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.

Looking closer to home, it turns out Stonewall recieves funding from them -"National LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall also said the funding pause would affect its work in eastern Europe and the Caucasus'

BBC Media action also receives funding.
'The BBC's international charity BBC Media Action, which is funded by external grants and voluntary contributions, receives funding from USAID. According to a 2024 report, USAID donated $3.23m (£2.6m), making it the charity's second-largest donor that financial year.
It funds a range of projects in 30 countries and 50 languages across the world,
The charity, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, says its work is 'building stronger democracies', making a 'safer, more habitable planet' and creating 'more inclusive societies' - especially for the disabled and LGBTQI+ people.'

We know how much pro-trans propaganda the BBC pumps out here but it is depressing to think that it is being beamed into 30 other countries with a clear agenda to promote trans ideology.
However laudable the goals of 'spreading Democracy' are, it is a very Imperialist view and I do not want to fund the empowerment of 'transwoman' in say India to start marching into women's bathrooms there or taking over their sports.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14359179/Donald-Trump-Elon-Musks-USAID-closure-hit-BBC-charity.html

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/trump-s-foreign-aid-pause-expected-to-impact-funding-for-uk-charities.html

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VrbzaMeiVOg

Aye I used to think taking the taxes of the richer countries and handing it out to those who need it was a good idea, until I found out that many 'aid' workers were raping the women and girls they were being paid to 'help'.

There's going to be a rush of air quotes in this thread. As none of it stacks up.

Yes, independent media. It’s great that you live in the wealthy bubble that is the UK, and have absolutely no notion of how dangerous it is to be a journalist in many countries around the world (particularly if working on corruption, organised crime, state threats etc) without the support of major donors.

I imagine we’ll start seeing retribution against anyone whose ever received international funding at all (including from the UK or EU), now that the tap is open.

How do you think journalism is funded around the world, particularly poorer countries? Subscriptions? Magic?

Your comments on BBC Media Action are really depressing. And ironic, since it exists to counter disinformation.

Of course Trump, wanting to close the US’s doors to any international responsibilities, has cherry picked every DEI project he can find and has said that is what USAID is doing. I’m sure there’s the odd howler. But there’s also a lot of lifesaving medical work.

I am gender critical. But I’m not homophobic, and I’m also practical. If there is a prima facie case that HIV is spreading faster in male relationships where one partner IDs as a transwoman, then get the data and start the targeted info campaign. That’s fine. You can do that and have single sex loos / rape crises centres and keep mediocre male athletes off female sporting podiums.

There is a vested interest from Trump etc in making us less proud of what makes our country special. It makes it easier to persuade us to, for example, break up and sell off the NHS. US insurance companies are desperate to break the brake on prices that NHS purchasing power entails.

giving Russia and China massive openings to push their agendas

whilst I a, not keen on Russia and China pushing their agendas, as a non-American I am not clear why I should be happy with America pushing its agendas instead.

Whose comments on BBC Media Action?

Is this the disinformation department whose head lied on her CV? Or is that a different disinformation department?

of course it is not independent, it is pushing US propaganda.

That’s actually a very good question and one that’s easy to answer (having received and administered grants from the UK, US and EU in the past.

Basically it’s this - Russia and China pay for their lines to be taken up, I.e for people to push their agenda through agreed narratives and methods.

US/UK/EU don’t (or if they do I imagine it’s the security services). The public grants, like those from USAID, are usually for things that ‘strengthening independent media in XXX’. The focus is on the independence of the media, not the line it takes.

i appreciate for those not in that world it might look like all governments seek to influence in the same way, but it’s not the case. The US is by no means perfect and has done a lot of exploitation in different places at different times, but it’s not compatible to what Russia and China are trying to do right now.

Provide evidence. Do you work in the aid sector? Have you ever worked with any of these organisations? Have you ever administered the funds? Where is your smoking gun? Where is your dossier of proof? Do you even know the name of any of these media? Have you ever read an article by any of them?

I’ll wait.

America is paying for its line to be taken up, just as much as Russia and China. You are either being naive or disingenuous. You might feel you agree with the American line more and thing it is ‘better’ and ‘good for that country’ but foreign ‘aid’ it is still all about influence and control.

Do you really think that those independent media funded by the US would be free to take an anti-American stance in their programming and reporting?

Yes, because I have seen it with my own eyes. Next.

I fail to see why I, as a US taxpayer (remember we are taxed no matter where in the world we live) have to subsidize these projects.

Give me my money back and let me donate individually. Never been easier with PayPal and other platforms tbh.

I used to audit UK funds from government.

When auditing, I was accused of inventing the concept of an 'invoice' for daring to audit the financial records of a training provider. I had to spend 18 months on one [different] claim, because of the levels of fraud and I had to hire a forensic accountant to check my work as for the life of me, I couldn't find any work that HAD been carried out, let alone hunting for the work that hadn't.

I reported this provider to the [large city in the UK] Mayor's Fraud team and I provided all the evidence and they are still on their network as getting funds from different branches of the UK government.

There is so much fraud in all these institutions and providers, I am all for ending the whole fucking rotten lot and starting again.

But this is the problem - I’m sure they probably are, though not through USAID, but it is not ‘as much as China and Russia’, because the latter are doing it considerably more. It’s a false equivalence.

p.s, I am highly critical of some US interventionism, as well as the way that UK does its aid. But it really is not the case that they’re all the same.

So you are saying the American tax payer is funding anti-American media in other countries and Americans should be happy with that?

Why do you say ‘though not through USAID’ when OP has already given several examples concerning LBGTQ+?

I did not. I stated that the richest nations have benefited from colonialism - largely in terms of access to resources which have enabled them to amass wealth, develop infrastructure, have outsized roles in international diplomacy, and so on.

As I have I. Indeed I worked for 3.5 years on a program that supported independent media and yes - that includes being critical of US, EU, and UK foreign policy, among other things. That's how independent media works.

Again, you are using US, EU and UK money to support independent media to be critical of US, EU and UK policy which includes...yourself.

You cannot make this up. Or you could if we were allowed to have actual comedy any more.

From reading the original post, the most heavily funded work, to understand HIV transmission in these groups, is useful from a public health standpoint. The rest are relatively speaking, small sums of money.

What other useful initiatives outside of supporting trans will now no longer go ahead? That should be our focus.

An independent media is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy and a truly democratic government understands that necessarily includes creating spaces for criticism.

Agree.

Every new administration comes in with its agenda for aid funding. That is why every Republican administration introduces the Global Gag Order and every Democrat administration rescinds it. Shifting funding priorities is normal and expected (even if people don't like it). What is not normal is to have an unelected billionaire shut down (pretty much overnight) a longstanding institution that provides lifesaving support to millions of people around the world.

Thirty Million Dollars to look at how HIV is passed through men who have sex with other men?

Come on. We know how HIV is transmitted no matter what these men call themselves.

Weren’t the people who managed USAID also unelected?