A popular RuPaul’s Drag Race star is heading to US congress for a very important reason.
RuPaul’s Drag Race fan favourite and season nine runner-up Peppermint will join activists in Washington DC, today and tomorrow (3-4 September) to lobby Congress against proposed cuts to HIV funding as part of the #SaveHIVFunding campaign.
The campaign, which has been expanded in response to the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to dismantle essential HIV services and infrastructure, notes that HIV funding is “facing an additional $1billion in cuts from an upcoming House Bill that would decimate entire systems of care across the US”.
“Cutting HIV programs would destabilise this infrastructure, reducing access to care for people living with chronic conditions, low-income families, and uninsured communities across the country,” a press release from the campaign adds.
Peppermint is currently starring in Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest, and made history as the first out transgender person to originate a principal role in Head Over Heels on Broadway.
Javier Muñoz, star of Broadway’s Hamilton and longtime HIV advocate, will also join activists in helping to halt the funding cuts.
On Wednesday (3 September), members of the #SaveHIVFunding campaign will visit congressional offices to share stories and underscore the urgent need for sustained HIV funding.
The following day there will be additional meetings with lawmakers, coalition events, and caucuses. On Friday they will reveal and present the interactive #SaveHIVFunding #CutsKill Quilt, which aims to highlighti what’s at stake if funding is cut.
Federal HIV programs have a 35+ year bipartisan track record. However, shortly following US president Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the 79-year-old signed a set of executive orders threatening to rescind federal funds for LGBTQ+ groups issued by the government.
In July, the US government was made to restore millions of dollars in funding for LGBTQ+ and HIV groups following a court ruling.
More than $6.2 million in federal grant funding was returned to nine organisations that support LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV after they won a case challenging Trump’s executive order.
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