Equality Arlington Urges Arlington County to Maintain Safety Net, Anti-Discrimination, and Public Health Protections in FY 2027 Budget

Dear Mr. de Ferranti,

The LGBTQ+ community in Arlington and across the United States is facing relentless attacks from the Trump administration and those who seek to take away our freedoms. Hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals are rising in Arlington and nationally. LGBTQ+ young people, especially transgender and non-binary youth, are facing pressure from the federal government to hide and deny who they are and how they feel. Economic turmoil and uncertainty are making life less affordable for LGBTQ+ residents, like so many others in Arlington. This is occurring at a time when Arlington County is facing its own financial pressures.

The County Board must strengthen its commitment to preserving safety net programs for our most vulnerable residents, protect the civil and basic rights of our marginalized communities, and invest in the health of our community. The county has made incremental progress the last couple of years in closing gaps in county resources protecting the health, safety, and welfare of LGBTQ+ residents—we call on the board to continue and sustain that progress. Therefore, we ask the County Board to do the following in the FY 2027 budget:

Public Health Division

•  Continue funding the Public Health Division’s marketing budget to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals have information about the STI Clinic and testing services. Using the funds first appropriated by the County Board in the FY 2025 budget, the Public Health Division’s “Keep Your Status Clear: Test Once a Year” campaign has reached over 23,000 users on Instagram, X, and Grindr and resulted in 1,228 visits to the STI Clinic website. Campaigns like this are critical to ensuring that STI infection rates decrease in our community, especially at a time of spiking syphilis rates in the county.

• Ensure that the Public Health Division has the necessary resources to implement and maintain the new initiative to offer free PrEP to our community, the medication used by HIV-negative individuals to prevent HIV infection. This lost-cost program is critical to ensuring that the most effective HIV prevention medication remains free and available for LGBTQ+ residents and other at-risk individuals.

• Work with community HIV prevention and treatment providers, like NovaSalud, to ensure they have the necessary funding to continue their lifesaving work. The Virginia General Assembly has taken steps in the FY 2027-2028 budget to restore some of the HIV/AIDS funding cut by the Youngkin administration last year, but full funding has not been restored. These cuts and the moves by the Trump administration to decrease funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment put our community increasingly at risk.

Office of Human Rights

• Ensure that the vacant Assistant County Manager for Human Rights, EEO, and ADA position is filled expeditiously and that the Office of Human Rights has the staffing and resources needed to protect Arlington residents and workers from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, and education on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Launch a campaign educating businesses and organizations that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains illegal under Arlington’s Human Rights Ordinance and that the county will take all necessary steps to enforce this ordinance.

• Launch a campaign aimed at ensuring LGBTQ+ residents and workers not only understand that they are protected from discrimination under Arlington’s Human Rights Ordinance and Virginia’s Human Rights Act but that they understand how to report violations and seek relief from discrimination that may occur.

During this time of economic hardship and continued attacks on Americans the Trump administration deems to be unworthy of civil rights, Arlington County must ensure that the most basic safety net, anti-discrimination, and public health protections are fortified for LGBTQ+ residents and workers. It is critical that Arlington County ensures that the Office of Human Rights has the staff and resources to both proactively engage with the community to increase understanding of the law and be able to enforce the law when it is violated. It is also essential that the Public Health Division continue their work to ensure that STIs rates decrease among high-risk members of the community.

Sincerely,

Kellen MacBeth

President, Equality Arlington

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