Lesotho's main LGBTQ+ group says it's 'not receiving grants' after Donald Trump lies

The leading LGBTQ+ organization in Lesotho is refuting Donald Trump's claims that the United States is giving millions to the southern African country to "promote LGBTQI+."

Trump claimed during Tuesday's presidential address that he has been eliminated supposed wasteful spending within the federal government, including "eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of."

The People's Matrix, the biggest LGBTQ+ rights group in Lesotho, said Wednesday that it has not received the millions Trump claimed — in fact, it is not receiving grants from the U.S. at all.

"We are literally not receiving grants from the U.S.," People's Matrix spokesperson Tampose Mothopeng told AFP. "We have no idea of the allocation of eight million [dollars]. We do not know who received or is going to receive that money. We do not have such moneys or a contract that would even reach a quarter of half of that money."

Lesotho decriminalized same-sex relationships in 2012, though it still does not have marriage equality or legal protections for LGBTQ+ people. Government officials have not confirmed or denied Trump's claims about the grants, as a foreign affairs spokesperson told the BBC that any funds would go directly to organizations, who would be able to say whether or not they had received it.

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Lesotho's Foreign Affairs Minister Lejone Mpotjoane said it was "shocking" to hear the president "refer to another sovereign state in that manner."

"To my surprise, 'the country that nobody has heard of' is the country where the U.S. has a permanent mission," Mpotjoane told the outlet. "Lesotho is a member of the UN and of a number of other international bodies. And the U.S. has an embassy here and [there are] a number of U.S. organizations we've accommodated here in Maseru."

Mpotjoane confirmed that Lesotho has been impacted by Trump's decision to cut aid to foreign programs, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, which distributed the HIV-preventative medication pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

While PrEP distribution has resumed under a limited waiver exempting it from Trump's 90-day foreign aid freeze, the vast majority of LGBTQ+ people are explicitly excluded from receiving it. A February 6 memo from the U.S. Department of State reads: “Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should be offered only to pregnant and breastfeeding women.”

UNAIDS estimates that more than 3,000 new HIV infections have already happened worldwide as a direct result of the policy.