NNearly 5,000 people’s services were disrupted last month when India’s first three transgender clinics shuttered due to a stop-work order from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided funding for them, according to two sources on Friday.
In January, US President Donald Trump issued an order to halt all foreign aid for 90 days while a review was conducted to ensure any initiatives using American taxpayer dollars aligned with his “America First” philosophy.
Trump has criticized USAID’s $21 million expenditure on “voter turnout” in India on numerous occasions. Last Monday, the Indian government announced it was looking into the matter. Both Republican Senator John Kennedy and Trump friend Elon Musk have criticized the financing for transgender initiatives.
That’s what American tax dollars were funding,” Musk tweeted on X on Friday in response to a post regarding the closing of the first Mitr clinic, which was established in Hyderabad, southern India, in 2021. The western cities of Pune and Kalyan are home to the other clinics.
In addition to regular medical care, each clinic offered counselling on mental health, HIV, and other sexually transmitted illnesses, legal aid, and advice and prescription on hormone therapy, according to a website for the three clinics.
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