Lawmakers want answers from Biden admin over funding to Colombian LGBT group that backs prostitution

A recent grant from the U.S. State Department to an LGBT group in Colombia that supports prostitution has left Republican lawmakers asking questions.

Led by Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, several members of the lower chamber want Secretary of State Antony Blinken to account for the grant, which they assert implies that Washington condones both prostitution and sex trafficking.

"Colombia has refused to outlaw prostitution, and its population suffers from high rates of sex trafficking and human rights abuses as a result," a group of House Republicans wrote to Blinken of the matter in a letter the Washington Examiner obtained. "By funding Sentiido, we can only conclude that the Biden Administration condones these activities in Colombia and Latin America."

Blinken's State Department awarded $16,000 to Fundacion Sentiido in September. The group works to expand the rights of sex workers in the Latin American nation and reportedly receives financial backing from George Soros.

"It’s unacceptable that U.S. tax dollars are funding nonprofits engaged in prostitution advocacy and radical gender indoctrination on children... It comes as no surprise that the Biden Administration approved this funding to be sent to an organization in a country that does not share our same American values," they further wrote.

"Americans should not have to fear that their hard-earned tax dollars will be funneled to far-left, radical groups like Fundacion Sentiido that promote prostitution and further sex trafficking abroad," the Republicans went on. "We must rein in wasteful and harmful government spending, especially to countries who clearly do not share our American values, and we ask the Department of State to do the same."

Fundacion Sentiido has advocated for prostitution and the rights of sex workers since at least 2014, the outlet reported. The practice is legal in Colombia.

Blinken's State Department has previously come under scrutiny for other grants to groups promoting LGBT causes, including a $10,000 contribution to a September 2021 LGBT film festival in Portugal that featured titles about incest, pedophilia and drag queens.