Advocates for LGBTQ Virginians came to the capital this legislative session with a number of requests. Among them is the restoration of funding to support the Commonwealth’s sexual minority population. It’s a hope shared by officials in the new Spanberger administration.
According to Stacie Walls with the LGBT Life Center in Hampton Roads, it’s been a tough few years after cuts to HIV and STI prevention programs saw organizations like hers lose millions in state funds.
“The dismantling of a public health system didn’t happen overnight; it happened over a couple years," Walls told Radio IQ during their recent lobbying day at the Virginia General Assembly Building in Richmond. "But there’s some crisis happening at our community-based organizations and that needs to be fixed quickly before those organizations can’t sustain themselves anymore.”
Dr. Laurie Forlano is with the Virginia Department of Health. They manage the grant funding that Walls spoke to losing. She said funding for some of the programs dropped in the wake of billing issues that saw rebate funding, part of a relationship with drug manufacturers, dramatically reduced. She said these issues weren’t unusual, and they’re working in good faith to restore funding.
In the meantime, Forlano said VDH was putting together their own budget request for the General Assembly.
“There are a lot of variables at play, we are having to start our year conservatively," she told Radio IQ in an interview Friday. "But I’m cautiously optimistic about some of the resources that may come to bear.”
That cautious optimism is shared by Walls, even if she felt LGBTQ support services like hers were being treated differently by former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration in the wake of other actions they perceived as hostile towards the LGBTQ community.
“We’re really hopeful that all of us coming together and being able to talk about it openly may get things moving,” Walls said.
Forlano said there was no animus from VDH.
“We do not make decisions that way," she said of Walls concerns. "We make decisions based on strategy, finance and demand.”
Both parties must now wait and see what the legislature’s money committees decide in the coming weeks.
