US President Biden criticised by Florida Governor DeSantis for 'promoting transgenderism in Bangladesh'

While criticising US President Joe Biden's economic policies at two Iowa events this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis repeatedly dinged the federal government for "promoting transgenderism in Bangladesh," arguing that it's a waste of taxpayer dollars. ''

"I think the president should get a line-item veto. If they put a big spending bill on your desk, you can hack out, and veto, individual spending items. They are spending your money now to promote things like transgenderism in Bangladesh. Is that really a good use of your tax dollars?" DeSantis said at a Fox News town hall with Iowa voters on Tuesday (9 January), reports CNN.

DeSantis told the town hall that he believes "both parties" are overspending taxpayer money.

But he brought up Bangladesh while dinging Biden for inflation.

Ron DeSantis' campaign pointed to a fact sheet and a press release from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Those materials touted how USAID worked with Bangladeshi civil society groups to prod the government to include its "Hijra" community in the 2021 census.

The specific USAID programme involved in these efforts was launched in June 2018 and ended in June 2021 – indicating that it began under former US President Donald Trump's administration.

USAID records indicate that the programme cost $849,535 over the three years.

According to the agency, in the 2021 fiscal year, when it ended, USAID spent almost $30 billion – indicating the pro-LGBT programme in Bangladesh was less than 0.003% of its spending for that year.

There is at least one additional USAID programme supporting LGBT rights in Bangladesh, which was launched last year.