#HIVResists: April 2026 Monthly Policy Update

Voting will not solve all political problems or transform oppressive systems. It is, nevertheless, a tool that can demonstrate our community’s power and is a crucial part of holding elected officials accountable. Collective advocacy, for example, led to level federal funding for most HIV programs in the FY2026 budget – preventing nearly $2 billion in cuts to HIV care and prevention. Local and state legislators matter now more than ever because who is elected determines the local response to federal attacks. Recognizing our communal power, the federal and state governments are attacking voting rights. As 2026 November midterm elections approach, the fight to protect the voting rights and prevent voter suppression will continue to intensify. 

The most recent blow came from the US Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. In a 6-3 decision, the Court decimated the remaining protections in the Voting Rights Act, a landmark civil rights law that has helped to restrict racial gerrymandering and voter discrimination since 1965. The case revolved around Article 2 of the VRA, which was supposed to protect against racial vote dilution, a tactic where states draw electoral maps to reduce the voting power of BIPOC communities. Louisiana’s congressional map created a second Black majority district to ensure fair

representation. The Supreme Court ruled that this is an illegal racial gerrymander. The Court’s reasoning guts Article 2 of the VRA and will make it extraordinarily difficult to challenge electoral maps that lock Black and Brown communities out of voting power going forward. 

Republicans are set to benefit from this decision and as much as 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus could lose their seats due to redistricting based on this ruling. Black Voters Matter predicts that 191 Democratic seats are vulnerable and Black-majority districts could drop from 273 to 146, with nearly half of losses in the South. It is a devastating blow to voting rights and racial justice. In light of this decision, Louisiana is trying to delay congressional primaries. Though, civil rights groups quickly filed an emergency challenge to block the state from stopping elections. Other southern states – including Florida and South Carolina – have long prepared to redraw districts in preparation for this decision. 

Courts are not the only threat:

• At the federal level, the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans want to pass the SAVE America Act, a voter suppression bill that requires proof of citizenship/residence, photo ID, and creates federal surveillance of voters. Desperately, Trump threatened to not sign any new legislation until Congress passes the bill. Most recently, Trump issued an executive order to illegally rewrite rules around voting by mail and threaten criminal penalties for those who send or deliver ballots to ineligible people. At the same time the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice continues to demand state voter files. In addition to privacy concerns, the Federal government aims to use state files to instruct states to remove specific voters. 
• At the state level, some lawmakers are following suit. For example, Florida’s legislatures passed a state version of the SAVE America Act, which has been challenged in a lawsuit by civil rights organizations for disenfranchising voters. States are also redrawing boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts, increasing the chances of gerrymandering. As of December 2025, there were 100 cases challenging maps for gerrymandering on the state and federal level.  Additionally, the Texas primary in March showcased another voter suppression tactic when Dallas and Williamson Counties changed  polling location rules without sufficient notice, causing chaos and confusion for voters. 

Voter suppression disproportionately affects people living with HIV and communities most impacted by HIV, including people of color, women, poor and working class people, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people. For those that live at many of these intersections, voter suppression is compounded. Despite the reality we find ourselves in, PWN is firm in our belief that people living with HIV, especially women living with HIV, are a powerful voting bloc. Our Voter Engagement campaigns have successfully leveraged the voting power of people living with HIV and communities most impacted by HIV for 

years. We intend to do the same for the midterms and beyond.

CALL TO ACTION

• Join the #PWNVotes Team! We need people like you to expand our reach and get out the HIV vote. Sign up to get connected with volunteer opportunities related to voter engagement below.

• Pressure Elected Officials! Check out the toolkits from Black Voters Matter and United for Democracy to learn more about the impact of Callais and support fair representation and protections against discrimination. 
• Get mobilized! Join the Good Trouble Week of Action, a three-day national mobilization for voting rights in honor of the legacy of Congressman John Lewis.
• Prepare and stay safe! Protect Democracy provides tips to make a voting plan and navigate potential challenges in this comprehensive guide.

• A U.S. District Judge vacated the Kennedy Declaration, a declaration issued by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, in December 2025 that threatened to revoke federal funding for providing gender affirming care to young people. Hospitals can no longer use the Kennedy Declaration as their legal basis for enforcing gender affirming care bans. Additionally, the Trump administration cannot implement the declaration or similar policy. The ruling also

impacts states where hospitals are currently fighting lawsuits for their ban of gender affirming care.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a rule that would exclude transgender and gender diverse people from accessing federally funded housing by requiring shelters to house tenants based on sex assigned at birth. 
  • Act now: Submit a public comment opposing HUD’s proposed rule using the Advocates For Trans Equality Toolkit. 
• While the US Supreme Court strips away trans rights, state Supreme Courts and State constitutions serve as one method of protecting trans rights. For example, the Montana state Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution entirely protects trans citizens and the Colorado Supreme Court is poised to require that Children’s Hospital Colorado resume gender-affirming care. 
• The Colorado General Assembly passed HB26-1322 a bill that creates a private civil right for survivors of conversion therapy to sue practitioners. The goal is to make conversion therapy financially restrictive as a response to the Chiles v. Salazar rule that found the state’s conversion therapy ban unconstitutional.

• The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to temporarily stop nationwide telehealth access to mifepristone, abortion mediation, while a court case continues. Medication abortion accounts for a majority of current abortions. The ruling would have stopped mifepristone access nationwide, however the Supreme Court blocked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals order.

• Congress agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security, except for ICE and Border Patrol, until September, ending the longest partial government shutdown in US history. Republicans in Congress are trying to fund ICE and Border Patrol through another process, known as reconciliation, at $70 billion, in an attempt to bypass Democratic Party opposition.

• In late April, Congress temporarily extended surveillance law under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to allow federal intelligence agencies to collect data on non-citizens including their contact with citizens. Negotiations for a long term renewal of the FISA continue as civil society and privacy advocates demand reform.   
• Texas Governor, Gregg Abbott, threatened to cut about $200 million in public safety funding from Houston, Dallas, and Austin because their local law enforcement limits their collaboration with ICE.