The AP Blames US Aid Cuts for the Plight of Trans Sex Workers in Nepal

If you were to map out a list of your political priorities and the things you wanted your tax dollars spent on, we're going to guess issues like schools, crime, national security, and taxes would be near the top of that list. What would be very near the bottom is transgender aid workers in Nepal.

But the Associated Press wants us to know that because the U.S. cut aid to these transgender Nepalese people, they've been forced out of their jobs as aid workers and are now forced into prostitution.

In impoverished Nepal, where a conservative culture leaves openly transgender people with few legal job options, the impact on aid workers’ lives was particularly crushing. Starving and scared, around 100 LGBTQ+ aid workers left jobless by the funding cuts have turned to sex work… pic.twitter.com/yukURpfxle
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2026

"These transgender sex workers operate in the shadows alongside a busy highway in central Nepal, risking their lives for a few dollars," said Kristen Gelineau. "Until recently, many of them worked not as sex workers, but as aid workers, including Rubi Lama, who dedicated years of her life to helping prevent the spread of HIV in Nepal's marginalized communities."

"But after the U.S. cut its foreign aid funding, Rubi and around 300,000 other aid workers worldwide lost their jobs," Gelineau continues, "with no other employment available, she is surviving now by working the streets, alongside the very people she once fought so hard to help."

Oh great, time for headline Mad Libs, my favorite! "Horror as (Nepalese) (trans) people who (worked for USAID) are now (turning to prostitution) to survive because (the US) (cut wasteful aid to their country)
— Sour Patch Mom ن (@sourpatchlyds) July 23, 2026