Musk’s DOGE halts $25,000 award for LGBTQ+ refugee support in Greece

The U.S.A. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the leadership of Elon Musk and responsible for cutting government expenses, announced on X that it had canceled a $25,000 (approximately £20,000) grant meant to aid LGBTQ+ refugees in Greece, according to ‘eKathimerini’.

DOGE’s post on X stated, “While looking into this, the team identified a $25,000 award entitled ‘Empowering LGBTQIA+ Refugees in Greece’ with the description: ‘To provide material, legal, and psychological support to LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers and refugees; inform and raise awareness of civil society on issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community.’ It has now been cancelled.”

This announcement was made after Emanouil Fragkos, a member of the European Parliament from the nationalist Greek Solution party, requested Musk to have DOGE examine “US funds to Greek NGOs reserving luxury hotels for illegal migrants.” Fragkos shared DOGE's tweet with the comment, “Catharsis, we bring change.”

According to USAspending, the official open data source for federal spending, the grant recipient, facilitated through the U.S.A. Embassy in Athens, received the entire amount in September 2024, indicating that the cancellation only impacts funding for 2025.