by Robert Schmad
The federal government has used taxpayer dollars to fund services for LGBT refugees in Latin America over the past couple of years, federal grants show.
The State Department and the Inter-American Foundation, an independent federal agency, funded a trio of grants between August 2021 and October 2023 aimed at bolstering Costa Rica’s status as a haven for LGBT asylum seekers, funding a project to help LGBT refugee entrepreneurs as well as teaching gay and trans refugees how to use computers. The three programs collectively received almost $300,000 in federal funds.
The Instituto Sobre Migracion Y Refugio LGBTIQ Para Centroamerica, a Costa Rican refugee NGO serving LGBT migrants, received the bulk of the federal government’s financial support. The organization has served 950 people total, according to its website, and has received over $200,000 in federal funds.
Instituto Sobre Migracion Y Refugio LGBTIQ Para Centroamerica “provides training, certification and psychosocial and legal assistance to LGBTIQ migrants in Costa Rica,” according to a federal grant description.
The federal government has taken an interest in Costa Rica as it “is the only Central American country that grants asylum due to persecution of a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity,” according to a 2021 federal grant. LGBT refugees from Venezuela, a socialist state, and Panama are present in Costa Rica, according to the grant.
The Inter-American Foundation says it supports “community-led approaches to promoting economic integration and creating inclusive societies in Latin America and the Caribbean,” per a federal grant description.
The State Department, meanwhile, funded a project aimed at promoting “social integration and economic inclusion” for LGBT migrants and refugees in Ecuador with an emphasis on LGBT people with disabilities and small businesses, according to a federal grant listing. The program began in October 2023 and will stretch through March 2024.
The department also spent roughly $25,000 on “advancing computer skills for LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers,” according to an August 2022 grant.
President Joe Biden’s State Department has funded several other LGBT-related programs.
The State Department has bankrolled a program to create 2,500 “LGBTQI+ Allies,” given taxpayer dollars to “queer” Muslim writers in India and funded a Portuguese film festival depicting incestuous and pedophilic content since Biden took office in 2021.
The Biden admin had sent nearly $4.6 million in taxpayer funds to at least 55 foreign nations to support LGBT causes as of June 2023, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.
“The United States works with international and non-governmental organization partners to provide protection and support to at-risk populations who are particularly vulnerable due to their age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics,” a State Department spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
” LGBTQI+ refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons face specific risks,” they continued. “Displaced LGBTQI+ persons are more likely to travel alone, with little protection or support.”
The Inter-American Foundation did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
