On February 6, during the program “Three & Co” on pro-government television channel POSTV, the hosts of the program, Shalva Ramishvili and Bacho Odisharia, discussed USAID grants in different countries (1;2;3). According to the hosts, USAID spent $10 million in South Africa on promoting sex between men and also funded a “transgender opera” in Colombia.
Shalva Ramishvili: “[My favorite expenditure is] the transgender opera in Colombia.”
Bacho Odisharia: “My favorite is the claim that $10 million was spent in South Africa to promote sex between men. That’s how it was described – ‘men who have sex with men.’ That’s it. No further details on the motivation behind this…”
Shalva Ramishvili: “They have to promote it, right? They are literally making us pederasts. Sorry for the term, but they spent $20 million on turning people into pederasts.”
The claim about the opera was repeated on February 11 by journalist Giorgi Akhvlediani on the program “Anatomy of Liberalism.” In a report shown during the same program, the journalist told viewers that USAID spent $32,000 in Peru on a transgender comic book. On February 7, during the “Big Program” on POSTV, diplomat Kote Zhghenti claimed that USAID was funding research on the reproductive issues of transgender rats, mice, and monkeys. On February 10, during the program “Salte,” political analyst Edisher Gvenetadze repeated the claim that USAID was funding LGBTQ+ propaganda among monkeys.
Information about USAID grants is being spread out of context and manipulatively: 1) The $10 million in South Africa was not used to promote sex between men. In reality, the projects focus on the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and the provision of vital health services; 2) USAID did not fund the creation of “transgender monkeys.” Since transgender women are at high risk for HIV infection, funding from the National Institutes of Health was used for research on how hormone therapy affects HIV infection. As part of this research, experiments were conducted on monkeys; 3) As for the comic book in Peru and the opera in Colombia, the claims are partially true regarding their content. However, these projects were not funded by USAID but by the U.S. State Department, which only covered part of the project costs.
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What Does the Term “Men Who Have Sex with Men” Mean?
The term “men who have sex with men” has been established in the medical field for decades and clinically refers solely to sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation. It is denoted as MSM. People belonging to this group often face a heightened risk of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.
According to 2024 data, the estimated HIV prevalence rate in South Africa is 12.7%. The number of infected individuals is around 8 million. Among the population aged 15-45, 16.7% are HIV-positive. The transmission rate of HIV among MSM remains a significant issue in South Africa. According to a 2011 study, the HIV prevalence rate among MSM was approximately 15.3%, surpassing the prevalence rate among the adult population. This problem was further exacerbated by AIDS-related stigma, homophobia, and cultural definitions of masculinity, which created barriers to treatment. Due to stigma and fear of HIV, many men who should have been receiving life-saving medication without discrimination often avoided testing, ultimately contributing to the spread of the disease.
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What Does USAID Fund in South Africa?
The claim repeated on the TV program has been widely disseminated by X users. Notably, the expenses that users label as wasteful spending by USAID are listed without explanation. Posts read, “$6.3 million for men who have sex with men in South Africa,” without specifying what the funds were actually used for. This phrasing creates the misleading impression that money was simply handed out to MSM individuals, while Bacho Odisharia falsely asserts that the funds were spent on promoting same-sex relationships.
In reality, USAID has actively supported health initiatives in Southern African countries, including South Africa, which also encompass MSM healthcare. The goal of these projects was not to promote same-sex relationships but rather to safeguard health, prevent sexually transmitted infections (HIV), and provide essential treatment. The official USASPENDING website, where U.S. government aid can be tracked, shows that a $46,000 grant was awarded to PASPWA, an NGO operating in South Africa. PASPWA is the NGO focused on healthcare programs. The grant description states that its purpose is to provide HIV-related services for transgender people and MSM, as well as offer psychosocial support. However, the grant issuer is not USAID but the U.S. State Department.
One of the programs USAID funded over the years was Health4Men, implemented by the Anova Health Institute. USAID began funding the Health4Men project in 2008 when healthcare services for MSM were limited and their needs were largely overlooked. The Anova website provides information about one of the projects implemented with the support of USAID, which included not only HIV treatment and prevention but also mental health initiatives and training for healthcare providers to ensure gay and bisexual men received competent, stigma-free care.
Since USAID’s operations have been suspended globally, media have reported about a difficult situation existing in South Africa, as organizations working on HIV prevention and treatment have to suspend their operations due to a lack of funding. Many U.S.-funded organizations provide critical services to the most vulnerable people, including MSM, sex workers, and transgender individuals.
Although USAID’s official website is currently down (as of 10/02/2025), information on MSM-related projects can still be found on USAID’s official regional Facebook page.
The project designed for South Africa, which uses the medical term “men who have sex with men,” is not aimed at promoting same-sex relationships, as falsely claimed by POSTV, but rather at healthcare initiatives, primarily HIV treatment, prevention, and related medical services.
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Did USAID Fund a “Transgender Monkeys” Program?
Manipulative claims are being spread about a supposed USAID program that allegedly focused on the reproductive issues of “transgender monkeys” or LGBTQ+ propaganda in animals. However, no such grant can be found on USASPENDING. Similar claims about millions being spent on “transgender monkeys” have also circulated before. In November 2024, Elon Musk also shared this misinformation on X. The original source of these claims is likely The Festivus Report, published by Senator Rand Paul, which included allegations about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s supposed “transgender monkeys” project.
In reality, the funding did not come from USAID but from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and it was not intended for “LGBTQ+ propaganda” or addressing the “needs of transgender monkeys.” PolitiFact has fact-checked this claim. The project was designed to conduct experiments on HIV susceptibility among transgender women. According to the World Health Organization, transgender women face a high risk of HIV infection, and this research was particularly significant in this context. The study, conducted by Scripps Florida, involved administering female hormone therapy to monkeys to analyze whether these hormones made them more vulnerable to HIV infection. Additionally, the research aimed to determine how hormone therapy affected the monkeys’ response to HIV treatment.
Similar experiments on the effects of hormone therapy and various treatments have also been conducted on mice. However, none of these studies were funded by USAID.
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Did USAID Fund a Comic Book About Transgender People in Peru?
USAID did not provide funding for the creation of a comic book in Peru. According to USASPENDING, the U.S. State Department, under its public diplomacy program, allocated $32,000 to Peru’s Department of Education. The funding supported the production of a three-book comic series (1;2;3). The 2022 grant aimed to create a comic book that, along with other characters, included an LGBTQ+ character and addressed social and mental health challenges. Notably, the comic features a gay character, not a transgender one.
The comic, titled “The Power of Education,” was first presented in Peru by the U.S. Embassy in 2021. It focused on education opportunities and exchange programs in the U.S. In 2022, the embassy funded the production of a second volume.
“The embassy asked us to introduce a gay student in #2 to show his personal struggle coming out to his parents, but that has zero to do with being transgender,” David Campiti, owner of the comic production company, told FactCheck.org.
The comic’s author, David Lawrence, also responded to the claims, stating that while he would have no objection to writing about transgender characters, this specific comic did not address that topic. He also clarified that the actual budget was less than a quarter of the reported $32,000, suggesting that the amount might reflect the total cost of the books. In another post, Lawrence explained that the U.S. Embassy in Peru requested an LGBTQ+ character as “a small response to the anti-gay prejudice in the country.”
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“Transgender Opera” in Colombia
Claims are also circulating that USAID spent $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia. The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also mentioned the opera in her statements.
In reality, the opera was not funded by USAID but by the U.S. State Department. Moreover, the actual grant amount given to Universidad De Los Andes was $25,000, while $22,000 is listed on the official website as a non-federal expense, meaning that the organizers secured the remaining funds from other sources. According to USASPENDING, the title of the opera was “As One,” composed by American composer Laura Kaminsky, and the funding was intended to raise awareness about transgender issues and promote representation.
“This is a well-known opera in the U.S., highly acclaimed by audiences. The last thing I expected was to hear those statements from the White House,” Juana Monsalve, Colombian actress, said.
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