While Americans suffer under a disastrous Biden economy, his administration is sending tax dollars to Peru to sponsor a ballroom dancing initiative focused on “uplifting transgender and gender-diverse” young people.
The funding comes from the U.S. Department of State’s Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF). According to their website, CDAF “provides funding for the CDAF annually, with projects eligible for up to $10,000 each. Teams of U.S. citizen exchange alumni work to utilize the skills, knowledge, and networks gained through their U.S. government exchange programs and address issues faced by communities around the world.”
Included in the list of programs funded in 2023 is “Ballroom Saves Lives: Resiliency and Wellness in Peru,” which “draws inspiration from a ballroom dancing tradition rooted in the Black and Latinx LGBTQIA community.”
Ballroom Saves Lives: Resiliency and Wellness in Peru Ballroom aims to uplift transgender and gender diverse youth leaders in Lima, Peru by amplifying arts-based ballroom spaces, connecting LGBTQIA+ people with healthcare resources, and fostering trust with health providers through the ballroom community through three events and a series of workshops. Ballroom is a performance art style and culture consisting of dance, modeling, and community engagement that began in the Black and Latinx LGBTQIA+ community.
Launched in 2019, CDAF has given out $1.85 million in grants, according to its website.
Programs funded by CDAF in 2022 included one about teaching “the role jazz plays in the quest for freedom, democracy, and civil rights,” workshops about “hip-hop, graffiti, and dance (breaking, popping, and locking),” and “Empowering Women Leaders in Rural Morocco.”
Ballroom dancing for LGBTQIA+ youth in Peru isn’t the first LGBT program the State Department has supported.
The State Department funded an LGBTQ+ film festival in Portugal that showed movies depicting incest and a minor having sex with an adult. The department stood by its decision to support the festival, citing its support for “protecting and promoting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
