Activists hold 'die-in' at HHS to protest Trump health care cuts: in photos

More than 100 people join in die-in protest

The Human Rights Campaign held a “die-in” Thursday in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to HHS programs.

The cuts target programs and research on a wide variety of social and public health issues, including sexually transmitted infections, mental health, suicide prevention, gender-affirming care, cancer prevention, elder care, substance use, harm reduction, and homelessness, will result in far-reaching, deadly consequences for the LGBTQ+ community, especially for the thousands of Black and Latiné gay and bisexual men and transgender women who are disproportionately affected by HIV, an HRC press release says.

With the elimination of 10,000 HHS employees, programs being cut include STI and HIV surveillance and response teams; a group that worked to expand access to pre-exposure prophylaxis; the Medical Monitoring Project, which tracked vital data on people living with HIV, including treatment effectiveness and viral suppression rates; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s collection of data on the use of long-acting HIV treatments and clinical care visits; HIV public awareness campaigns; and the HIV Science Translation Branch, which translated scientific advancements in HIV prevention and treatment into real-world interventions.

At the die-in, while a narrator slowly read through a list of devastating health outcomes that HHS funding cuts will have on the LGBTQ+ community, over 100 participants fell to the ground, symbolizing the thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals who will die because of the Trump administration’s actions.

“Every person here represents countless other stories. Countless lives. Countless possibilities. And as the federal government cuts funding — from research to housing, from mental health to Medicaid — we’re not just watching systems disappear. We’re watching lives disappear,” HRC Senior Public Policy Advocate Matthew Rose said in the release. “But LGBTQ+ people will always be here. We are still here. In defiance. In community. In truth.”

Scroll on for more pictures from the protest.