Congress just slashed funding to these LGBTQ+ centers, thanks to Libs of TikTok

Chaya Raichik may have embarrassed herself in her recent interview with Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, but her anti-gay TikTok account LibsofTikTok is still somehow making waves in Washington.

After the sensationalist account accused The Aviary, an LGBTQ+ center in Philadelphia that also hosts private events, of using federal funding to promote sex and kink parties, Democratic Senator John Fetterman quickly pulled his support for the center. Which has liberals scratching their heads, wondering just how we got to a place where an anti-LGBTQ+ hate account can make decisions about how federal aid is distributed to queer projects and community centers.

While Fetterman’s office requested the funding for this specific center be cut from the original funding package, he later spoke out in an interview, claiming that it was not his intention to back down from the project.

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“I wasn’t part of that decision. It wasn’t my personal decision to do that,” Fetterman later explained. “I never realized that the Libs of TikTok should determine our priorities and what we’re going to support.”

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However, according to Fetterman, he wasn’t left with much choice regarding the funding package. It was either remove the Aviary from the bill, or “watch it get stripped out, attacked by Republicans, and ultimately killed.”

The Aviary isn’t the only queer community center being affected. While Philadelphia’s William Way LGBTQ Community Center was also originally included in the funding package, plans for renovation for the stalwart institution—which has been providing aid and resources to the city’s queer population since the mid-70s—was also missing from the official Congressional record.