Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, says the work that she and her colleagues did under the Biden-Harris administration is “being systematically dismantled.”

“As the person who was responsible for leading U.S. foreign policy on LGBTQI+ issues, it’s been very difficult for the past two months to see that work being systematically dismantled,” she told the Washington Blade on March 19 during a telephone interview.

Stern was the executive director of Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex advocacy group, when then-President Joe Biden appointed her in June 2021.

The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy. These efforts specifically included the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations and marriage equality efforts in countries where activists said they were possible through the legislative or judicial processes.

The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to freeze most U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days has had a devastating impact on the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement. President Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers has prompted Germany and several other European countries to issue travel advisories for transgender and nonbinary people who are planning to visit the U.S.

Stern said the Trump-Vance administration “has studied the anti-LGBTQI strategies of other countries and basically imported the worst ideas from around the world: The most violent, the most dehumanizing, the most targeting strategies.” Stern added these policies have emboldened Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Argentine President Javier Milei and other anti-LGBTQ heads of state.

“It’s one thing when a small country that has limited global reach implements anti-LGBTQI laws and policies. It’s another thing when one of the world’s superpowers does so,” Stern told the Blade. “There’s no question that the U.S.’s regression on LGBTQI rights is actually going to accelerate backlash against LGBTQI people around the world.”

“We provide political legitimacy to those ideas, but also we’re forging new alliances and coalitions, and we’re pushing these ideas on other countries,” she added. “So, it’s not a passive action. The U.S. government currently is actively funding and disseminating anti-LGBTQI hatred around the world.”

Former State Department colleagues ‘afraid every day’

The Trump-Vance administration in a Feb. 3 statement that defended its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development noted examples of the organization’s “waste and abuse” included $2 million for “sex changes and ‘LGBT activism'” in Guatemala and $1.5 million to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month said 83 percent of USAID contracts have been cancelled, and the remaining will “now be administered more effectively under the State Department.”

Rubio after the Trump-Vance administration froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending issued a waiver that allowed the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate.

The Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya, South Africa, and elsewhere have suspended services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima on March 24 said 6.3 million more people around the world will die of AIDS-related complications over the next four years if the U.S. does not fully restore its foreign assistance.

Stern said her former State Department colleagues are “afraid every day.”

“They never know, ‘Am I going to be fired today?’ “Am I going to be put on administrative leave?’,” she said. “I cannot even imagine what it’s like to go to work every day.”

Stern told the Blade her former colleagues tell her that “there’s not a lot of foreign policy work happening because there’s so much disruption being caused by DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency).”

“Entire departments have been decimated,” she said, noting one of them has lost 60 people. “It’s almost inconceivable to figure out how to restructure your work when your resources have been decimated.”

Stern described herself as “an eternal optimist” when the Blade asked whether she thinks the U.S. can ever stand for LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad.

“You have to believe in human rights,” she said.

Stern said former Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “an ally on LGBTQI issues.” Stern also said many of her now former State Department colleagues thanked her and her team for their work before they left government.

“There’s so much compassion from straight and cisgendered allies, from career officials, people that are not human rights experts or specialists, people that don’t focus on the well-being of LGBTQI people, but people that care very much about the United States standing for its values, the rule of law, equality for all, and this notion that it is in our national interest to ensure that there is safety, prosperity, and well-being for people around the world,” she said.

“The situation we find ourselves in will not last forever,” added Stern. “What we have to do is figure out how to hold the line right now, and how to organize for the future.”

She stressed ways to “hold the line” include litigation, protests, letters-to-the-editor, demanding accountability from lawmakers.

“There’s so much to do,” said Stern.

Stern is currently teaching at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and is writing about her experience as the “first-ever human rights expert to be the special U.S. envoy for LGBTQI rights.” Stern also told the Blade that she is working to launch a new organization.

“I love being an activist again,” she said. “If there was ever a time when activists are needed, it’s now.”

“I am really proud to have rejoined the resistance,” added Stern.

Sean Ebony Coleman became the first transgender African American to own and operate an LGBTQ center with the founding of Destination Tomorrow in 2009. Subsequent centers opened up in Atlanta in 2022 and D.C. in 2024. 

Destination Tomorrow was founded on the idea that “it is more helpful to empower our most vulnerable TLGBQ+ community members in a way that takes them off the path of needing emergency care.”

“Our organization emphasizes economic, social, and mental empowerment through a variety of holistic educational, financial, support-based, housing, and health programs,” Destination Tomorrow said on the organization’s website.

With Transgender Day of Visibility today and WorldPride coming to D.C. this June, the Washington Blade spoke with Coleman to get some further insight into how Destination Tomorrow and other organizations are responding to the pressure the Trump-Vance administration is putting on the LGBTQ community.

BLADE: What was the overall reaction to the Trump administration and the heavy anti-LGBTQ rhetoric being pushed by the administration from Destination Tomorrow?

COLEMAN: I think the first thing was disbelief, right? You know he’s not well versed, but the embellishments about the community, particularly the trans community, were so outlandish that they became dangerous. So I think the first thing was, people actually believe this, and we have a message in problem because we’re not responding. We really missed an opportunity to message that differently. Like some of them it was so easy for us to respond and say, “We’re talking about the entire sports world when it comes to college and high school” and those kinds of things, right? We are definitely focusing on the wrong one percent.

I knew it was like collectively as a trans man, just personally, I was like “okay, so how do you show up now?” You’re in a position that folks expect you to at the very least have something positive to say next steps, this is what we’re gonna do, marching all this, whatever. I’m sitting with it like, no, I’m a little nervous. In the moment, most of the danger and most of the rhetoric is happening towards trans and gender nonconforming people and unfortunately, Black and brown and trans and gender nonconforming folks feel it worse when things like this happen.

BLADE: With a lot of organizations getting threats, losing funding, and everybody just being scared, has Destination Tomorrow specifically received any higher amounts of traffic to your locations, either here or other states?

COLEMAN: All three locations have seen an uptick. Funny thing a lot of them are coming in because they just want community. and we do that intake assessment. Then we say “while we have you here, we could do all of these other things.” But it’s really about them coming for community. If you know anything about us, we’re well versed in the house and ballroom community. So we put on balls. We’re planning one now. 

And the young people, particularly young trans people, are also coming in for the ball, but they also want to know. Mr. Coleman, what can we do now? What is it? They want a call to action, want to be motivated and I think we have to figure out again this one message of where we’re going to go. Whether it is New York, Atlanta, and D.C., Destination Tomorrow is then going through all of the other trans into the nonconforming organizations. Speaking in one voice and figuring out what movement building looks like for us in this moment and we think that young people should drive it.

Particularly in New York and D.C. will receive some additional resources because we want to be able to address those folks that are going to come in. We want to make sure (to have enough) staff, (increase) our hours. We increase our security and our security presence because that was something that we were concerned about, even if it’s just an in person meeting that we’ve been doing for the last five years, because how do we keep those meetings and that meeting space and our identity safe?

BLADE: Do you feel like given the recent federal government layoffs and this whole Trump takeover of Washington, like, do you think D.C. is prepared or safe enough to start implementing those things that you want to try and get done?

COLEMAN: Yes. I think once we’ve taken a moment to step back and assess the situation, we will be able to come out stronger with the initiative that is going to be most important and most impactful for our community, but I think it is going to take some collaborative effort. I don’t think one agency is gonna be able to do it. I think this is a time for collaboration and allies. um, and not in that order. Right? But D.C. is definitely a safe place for LGBT community members worldwide.

It’s gonna be an amazing time. We’re gonna get an opportunity to show how resilient our community is, how much love we still receive. If you look at some things on social media, it’ll seem like everyone’s demonizing the trans and general nonconforming community and that’s not necessarily the case, right? 
I think we get sucked into this vacuum with social media and I think once you log off and you actually go outside, you recognize exactly how much support you have from your community. And I think that ties back into our messages. We’re not going to stand around sad and defeated. We’re going to show up, have a good time with WorldPride.

I also see it as an excellent opportunity to strategically put some plans in place. While we have you here, and we’re celebrating, we’re partying, but here is what our next steps will be. We have at least two or three next steps that collectively, you can go back down and all of us a picture goes saying two or three things. Say the same things, stay on message and I think World Pride will be an excellent opportunity to do so.

Along with the comments on TDOV and WorldPride, Coleman also spoke about the current state of LGBTQ politics.

“What’s so unfortunate for me is that we lean into our allies, right? Now is the time for our allies to take a look around the room and say “Oh wait. This person is missing [in the conversation], we should not be speaking on behalf of Black and brown people,” he told the Blade. “I specifically say Black and brown trans people. [Allies] shouldn’t be speaking on behalf of them because I know a few that can actually come here and speak on their own behalf and unfortunately it doesn’t happen. I think it’s because it’s tied into the losing funding across the board. So those LGB organizations are gonna feel that loss. And at some point they may feel like they have to step in and fill a void that they don’t necessarily have to because we’re here.”

Specifically in New York, Coleman has been looking toward the local government to help Destination Tomorrow and other organizations stay protected and operational during times like these. 

“Trans, gender nonconforming and LGB issues go across different issues. Whether we’re talking about housing, criminal justice reform, or reproductive rights. We should be included in those discussions, and we should be included in those funding opportunities,” said Coleman. “And I think this gives us an opportunity to show that Destination Tomorrow has a program called Pride at Work. to the workforce development program, where we’re pitching it in D.C. and we’re actually in our third year of doing it in New York City. That’s an example of how workforce development should be for all of us, right?”

“So a lot of the work we’ve done in the last couple of months is really meeting with all our elected officials and saying, ‘This is the message that we’d like you to push. This is what we want to say, this is how we feel. Because you are not saying it, it feels like you left us behind. This is where you are missing the mark and it is up to you to fix it,’” he added.

A discussion for New York mayoral candidates took place later that evening. One of the things that Coleman wanted to heavily iterate to the candidates was that “at the end of the day, we’re paying attention now. We may not have been as politically engaged as we should have been, but we are now.”

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Thursday became the second court to issue a nationwide injunction blocking the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from military service.

The order in Schilling v. Trump from Judge Benjamin Hale Settle comes after Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked implementation of the ban earlier this month in Talbott v. Trump.

Friday was the date by which the Pentagon was to begin identifying and separating transgender service members from the armed forces, per Trump’s executive action.

The lead attorneys in Talbott v. Trump, GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi and Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, shared statements about the injunction in a press release by NCLR.

“Given the thousands of brave and decorated transgender servicemembers facing unthinkable harms as the result of this ban, we are heartened but not surprised by today’s decision,” Levi said. “President Trump’s executive order and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth’s implementation represent a policy that cannot be constitutionally justified. Thousands of transgender servicemembers currently serving have clearly demonstrated they meet all military standards, with many deployed to critical missions worldwide, proving their capabilities beyond question.”

Levi continued, “These dedicated servicemembers and their families have earned our nation’s gratitude and respect, and the government has a responsibility to honor the commitments it has made to them. This is about keeping faith with Americans who have risked everything to defend our freedoms.”

“In both Talbott and Shilling, it was abundantly clear to the court that it must act swiftly to protect our troops from an unconstitutional and indefensible ban that would disrupt the lives and dismantle the careers of thousands of transgender servicemembers and their families,” Minter said. “The harms associated with this ban are gut-wrenching.”

Minter continued, “In each of these cases, the government did not even attempt to claim that any evidence supported its position. There is no reason to discharge individuals who are serving capably and honorably.”