Budget for fiscal year leaves funding for LGBT programs in doubt

On June 29 Gov. Deval Patrick signed the budget for the state's Fiscal year 2010, which began this month, but how much funding will go towards the state's LGBT-related programs remains in question. In prior years the state budget included specifically earmarked dollar amounts for state programs serving LGBT youth, elders, and victims of domestic violence. This year, in response to the economic downturn and growing public criticism of the earmarking process, Patrick and the legislature eliminated most of the dollar-specific earmarks from this year's budget. The new budget includes language specifying that the state's LGBT programs receive funding, but the decisions about how much money to provide are left to the discretion of the state agencies that oversee the money.

The state's HIV/AIDS budget has its own dedicated line item in the Department of Public Health budget, making the outlook for HIV/AIDS funding more certain. The line item is funded at $35.3 million, a slight reduction from last year.

Curt Rogers, executive director of the Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP), said the Department of Public Health (DPH), which provides funding to his agency, has not yet told him how much his organization will receive this year. He said he believes DPH is still analyzing the new budget, which includes substantial cuts to public health and many other program areas. Rogers said DPH commissioner John Auerbach, who is openly gay, and DPH staff have been strongly supportive of GMDVP's work, but funding for domestic violence programs overall was cut in the final budget, and Rogers expects GMDVP and other agencies will have to take a hit.

"They've given us a tentative contract for a much lower amount [than last year], and there's the implicit message that that contract will go up once the numbers are set. ... But it's really tricky to start spending money into the fiscal year without knowing how much we'll have for the total fiscal year," said Rogers.

Lisa Perry-Wood, executive director of the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, said the outlook for LGBT youth funding is similarly uncertain. DPH and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) both fund LGBT youth programs, the former focusing on community-based organizations and the latter on school-based initiatives. Perry-Wood said DPH staff has told the commission that there will likely be cuts to funding for its LGBT youth programs, as well as cuts to the funding that DPH provides for the administration of the commission itself.

"We feel as though we have a really good relationship with the Department of Public Health, and they have let us know they will continue to support the commission administration, the Safe Spaces program. However, since their line items have been cut there will be cuts," said Perry-Wood.

She said DPH provided the commission with a rough estimate of the cuts to its programs, but she declined to reveal that estimate. Perry-Wood said the cuts would likely have the greatest impact on smaller community-based organizations that receive DPH LGBT youth funding.

"We know some of the smallest programs will be the hardest hit because they don't have any cushion. ... It's definitely going to be painful," said Perry-Wood.

DPH was unable to provide information to Bay Windows about the funding for its LGBT youth and domestic violence programs by press time.

Perry-Wood said the commission has not yet spoken with staff from DESE about potential cuts to Safe Schools programs. DESE, she said, told the commission it needed more time to analyze the budget. J.C. Considine, a spokesman for DESE, e-mailed a statement to Bay Windows saying, "No funding decisions have been made yet. ... In general, issues around civil rights, bullying, and harassment are very important to the Department, and we will continue to work with schools around education and prevention."

Perry-Wood said the commission hopes to get a clearer picture of youth funding from DPH within the next couple weeks and from DESE within the next month.

Lisa Krinsky, director of the LGBT Aging Project, said that the Executive Office of Elder Affairs has informed them that they should expect to receive level funding this year from the state. Last year Elder Affairs provided the Aging Project with $80,000 to do training for elder service agencies on LGBT issues.

"My best understanding is it will be level funding for this year, that there are adequate dollars in the Council on Aging budget," said Krinsky, referring to the line item through which the Aging Project receives funding.

While all of the state-funded LGBT program areas are likely to receive funding this year, Rogers said he worries about the prospects for LGBT program funding if the legislature and governor permanently do away with dollar-specific earmarks in future budget cycles. He said since Fiscal Year 1999, when GMDVP first received state funding, there had always been a dollar amount for the program specified in the budget, and that ensured that the program received funding even under the administration of Patrick's predecessor, Mitt Romney, who unsuccessfully tried to veto LGBT program funding. Rogers said in future budget cycles he will advocate for the restoration of a dollar earmark.

"We only have to look one administration back to see a previous commissioner of DPH that was not supportive as well as a governor who was not supportive," said Rogers.