House Republicans reject funding for LGBTQ centers

House Republicans on July 18 voted to block federal funding for queer senior housing and two LGBTQ centers, infuriating Democratic members who intended to allocate millions to help the local queer community in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

In a 32-26 vote across party lines, the lawmakers rejected funding for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading, the William Way Community Center in Philadelphia, and LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc. in Boston. 

The vote came as part of an amendment to the 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development spending bill. The LGBTQ centers were selectively chosen by Republicans out of a pool of 3,800 other funding projects simply because they were the only three organizations that had LGBTQ-related acronyms in their names, according to Representative Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia, a Democrat.

“Right now, House Republicans are trying to strip funding I secured for Philadelphia’s William Way LGBT Community Center — just because they provide social services for our LGBT community,” Boyle said in a tweet. “This is outrageous and disgusting bigotry.”

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, also a Democrat, said Republicans “want to strip funding for LGBTQ+ senior housing and community centers, which offer critical resources like HIV testing, career development, and mental health services.”

Wasserman Schultz stated that she would not allow Republicans to “erase gay people and their lives and their livelihoods and their quality of life.”

House Republican Andy Harris of Maryland’s Eastern Shore said that it was what he found on the would-be funding recipients’ websites that urged him and other Republicans to deny funding. Like many Republican lawmakers around the country, he falsely accused the Reading center of having “social and support groups for 7-year-olds, I guess, to groom 7-year-olds.”

“The same group that promotes hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery referrals,” Harris said. “I don’t know what goes on in those support groups. They might be doing that in those support groups. And I’ll be darned if I want taxpayer dollars going to funding [that],” he said. 

Boyle originally requested $1.8 million to upgrade and further help the William Way LGBT Center, which is historic in the work it has done to provide for the LGBTQ community, with food, counseling, and other resources. Pennsylvania Congressmember Chrissy Houlahan originally requested $970,000 for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts sought $850,000 for the LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc.

All of them were denied, despite them meeting all of the criteria outlined by the committee originally, and, apparently, having been approved already.

“It is unconscionable that Republican committee members would hold senior citizen-specific housing hostage and continue their dangerous national trend of targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” Pressley told The Advocate. “This process is intended for our communities to advocate for projects that have the highest impact, and this move by Republicans is blatant homophobia designed to attack some of our most vulnerable seniors. To our LGBTQ+ siblings, know you are seen and loved, and I won’t stop fighting to get this funding over the finish line and advance the critical investments you need not only to survive but to thrive.”

The bill has now moved to the House of Representatives, where it awaits the voting process.

House Republicans recently, in a bout of apparent inspiration, amended the 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development spending bill in a markup that was moved through the House. The bill, which previously approved about 3,800 other projects for funding, excluded three centers—which all happened to be explicitly LGBTQ centers: LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc., William Way LGBT Center, and LGBT Center of Greater Reading.

Representative Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia wrote on his Twitter, “Right now, House Republicans are trying to strip funding I secured for Philadelphia’s William Way LGBT Community Center — just because they provide social services for our LGBT community. This is outrageous and disgusting bigotry.”

These are the only three organizations that have LGBTQ-related acronyms in their names. House Democrats noted that the only thing that set these organizations apart is exactly that. 

“They want to strip funding for LGBTQ+ senior housing and community centers, which offer critical resources like HIV testing, career development, and mental health services,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

She stated that she would not allow Republicans to “erase gay people and their lives and their livelihoods and their quality of life” like they want. 

House Republican Andy Harris of Maryland’s Eastern Shore said that it was what he found on their websites that urged him and other Republicans to deny these three centers funding. Like many Republican lawmakers around the country, he falsely claimed that children were being groomed by these organizations. 

“The same group that promotes hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery referrals. I don’t know what goes on in those support groups. They might be doing that in those support groups. And I’ll be darned if I want taxpayer dollars going to funding [that],” he said. 

He then compared the support of the Young Communist League to the Ku Klux Klan. 

Rep. Boyle originally requested $1.8 million to upgrade and further help the William Way LGBT Center, which is historic in the work it has done to provide for the LGBTQ community, with food, counseling, and other resources. Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan originally requested $970,000 for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts sought $850,000 for the LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc.

All of them were denied, despite them meeting all of the criteria outlined by the committee originally, and, apparently, having been approved already.

In an interview with The Advocate, Rep. Pressley stated, “It is unconscionable that Republican committee members would hold senior citizen-specific housing hostage and continue their dangerous national trend of targeting the LGBTQ+ community. This process is intended for our communities to advocate for projects that have the highest impact, and this move by Republicans is blatant homophobia designed to attack some of our most vulnerable seniors. To our LGBTQ+ siblings, know you are seen and loved, and I won’t stop fighting to get this funding over the finish line and advance the critical investments you need not only to survive but to thrive.”

The bill has now moved to the House of Representatives, where it awaits the voting process.