WASHINGTON, United States – Funding “LGBTQI awareness” in Zimbabwe is incompatible with United States government interests abroad, a top ally of incoming President Donald Trump said as he ordered a pause to the release of “millions of dollars” by the State Department.

Brian Mast, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden of accelerating approvals for “wasteful spending” abroad before Trump takes over on January 20.

He highlighted planned spending on climate change initiatives in the Middle East and support for gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe.

In a January 8 letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Samantha Power, Mast expressed concern over “the accelerated pace of proposed funding for controversial USAID programmes in the final days of the Biden Administration.”

He wrote: “In recent weeks, my office has been made aware of hundreds of millions of dollars of proposed obligations for initiatives that offer no clear national security benefit to the U.S. or its allies.

“The American people sent a clear message in November that they will no longer tolerate uncontrolled spending on programs that are incompatible with the United States’ interests abroad. As their representative, I cannot, in good faith, allow you to spend millions of dollars to combat climate change in the war-torn Middle East or fund LGBTQI awareness in Zimbabwe – both of which are among your recent proposals.

“The rush to fund these and other controversial programmes on the eve of a new administration contradicts President Biden’s pledge to conduct a smooth transition and undermines critical Congressional oversight of taxpayer dollars spent abroad.”

Mast said he was “invoking the long- standing precedent granted to authorising and appropriating committees to place a hold on these funds before they are obligated.”

Mast did not elaborate on how much of the USAID budget was earmarked for supporting the LGBTQI programmes in Zimbabwe.

Like many African countries, Zimbabwe has laws criminalising homosexual activity. Sex between men carries a potential sentence of up to a year in prison, and the country’s constitution bans same-sex marriages.

Some human rights groups have run campaigns to increase acceptance and offer support to the LGBTQI community. One such initiative are scholarships offered by the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe since 2018, although it remains unclear if this is funded by USAID.

A report released by the US State Department in July last year detailed tens of millions of dollars going to projects that promote “LGBTQI+ human rights.”

According to the report, the State Department authorised more than $3.2 million in small grants to 116 “LGBTQI+” organisations in 73 countries and USAID spent “more than $7 million to support activities … that integrate LGBTQI+ equities” and “leveraged more than $11 million from private philanthropy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”

Trump supporters have accused the Biden administration of using USAID and the State Department to promote transgenderism and other elements of gender ideology through grants. The US has also leveraged foreign aid programmes and influenced international financial institutions and the United Nations to pressure countries into embracing transgenderism and gender ideology.

Trump officials are warning that his return to the White House, coupled with a Republican-controlled Congress, could bring serious shifts in global development.

An “America First” approach is poised to carry far-reaching implications for areas such as climate, health and broader international cooperation.

In his previous term, Trump cut US assistance from organisations providing abortion services, slashed funding for UN agencies, and exited the Paris Climate Accord, and also reduced US contributions to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO).