The Trump administration’s cancellation of the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) program will make it easier for violent extremists to attack LGBT communities in Orlando and across the country.
TVTP, overseen by the Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, provided training and resources to local governments and nonprofits to help law enforcement, policymakers and community leaders prevent and respond to hate-motivated violence.
Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has fired or reassigned nearly all federal employees who worked on TVTP and canceled most of its grants — including those that supported prevention education and security for LGBT communities. In July, his administration also eliminated the State Department’s Office of Countering Violent Extremism, where I served as a senior adviser.
In that role, I worked closely with DHS to connect Orlando officials with international counterparts. Just months after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, when 49 members of Orlando’s LGBT community were murdered by a Fort Pierce man radicalized online by ISIS, I joined DHS and French officials from Marseille for a week of meetings in Orlando and Tampa. We heard firsthand from Mayor Buddy Dyer, the police chief, the SWAT commander who led the response and — most importantly — members of Orlando’s LGBT community. Months later, a delegation from Orlando and Tampa visited Marseille to exchange lessons on preventing and responding to hate-fueled violence.
That partnership was one of several international exchanges the State Department organized to strengthen Orlando’s resilience. Many of those initiatives have since been dismantled as the Trump administration shifted staff and resources away from counterterrorism to expand ICE deportation operations.
From both domestic and international vantage points, I have seen the growing danger facing LGBT communities. As Jewish and Muslim congregations have hardened security at houses of worship, violent extremists increasingly target Pride parades and LGBT nightclubs and bars — “soft targets” with symbolic importance.
This threat extends well beyond U.S. borders. Anti-LGBT rhetoric from both the United States and Russia has fueled violence abroad. In 2021, far-right extremists in the Republic of Georgia stormed an LGBT group’s headquarters and assaulted journalists, forcing cancellation of a Pride march in Tbilisi. In 2022, a far-right extremist murdered two people at a gay bar in Slovakia after spending extensive time in online forums with U.S.-based extremists. That same year, a Norwegian man linked to ISIS killed two during Oslo’s Pride celebration.
At the State Department, these attacks prompted serious discussions about how to better protect LGBT communities globally. My own research for West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center found that conservative Polish politicians used U.S.-inspired anti-LGBT rhetoric during the 2019 elections (and again in 2024), mobilizing older and rural voters at the expense of LGBT safety. Across Central and Eastern Europe, scapegoating LGBT people became a common and often successful electoral strategy — one that directly contributed to rising hate crimes. Unlike in the United States, most LGBT people in this region lack robust organizational support, leaving them even more vulnerable.
The Biden administration’s prevention efforts were never about “political correctness” or “DEI.” They were about saving lives and holding violent extremists accountable, at home and abroad. Whatever one’s personal and/or religious views on gender and sexuality, the government has a duty to protect all citizens and ensure violent extremism and terrorism do not reach our shores.
By dismantling TVTP and related initiatives, the Trump administration has made all Americans — and especially LGBT communities — more vulnerable.
Michael Duffin was a senior adviser in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism before his position was eliminated in July. He worked extensively with the City of Orlando following the Pulse nightclub attack in 2016.
