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Austin’s municipal government has given over $7 million in subsidies to groups that promote high-risk sexual activity, including STD clinics, “transgender medicine” clinics, and a so-called “Queer Youth” organization.
According to data posted to Austin Finance Online, the city has given dozens of grants to these organizations, primarily for “Family and Social services.”
All three groups have billed the city as recently as last week.
The ASHwell “Sexual Health and Wellness Clinic,” promotes itself as your “freak friendly, pleasure positive, sexual health and wellness center.” It has received over $3 million since 2021.
Services provided by this organization include: pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, HIV, hepatitis C, sexually transmitted infections, “gender-affirming” care, and vaccinations.
Texas Health Action, which describes itself as “a nonprofit healthcare organization dedicated to providing high-quality, culturally affirming healthcare with an expertise in serving LGBTQIA+ individuals and people impacted by HIV” has received nearly $3 million since 2021.
Texas Health Action sponsors the notorious Kind Clinic and provides PrEP, PEP, HIV care, “gender-affirming” care, intersex care, and DoxyPEP. The Kind Clinic also underwrites “queer-friendly” media outlets.
Texas Health Action also sponsors the Waterloo Counseling Center which provides “affordable, affirming mental health care for Austin’s LGBTQIA+ community, people living with HIV, and their loved ones.” According to its website, Waterloo Counseling Center provides these services to children as young as 15.
OutYouth describes itself as “The safe place for youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities to be themselves” and provides services to “pre-teens” as young as nine. It has received over $1 million since 2008.
As Texas Scorecard has previously reported, the organization has promoted transgenderism and other sexualized content to minor children. It has worked extensively with Austin ISD and has also worked with other local school districts.
This discovery comes at a time when Austin’s municipal spending faces unprecedented scrutiny.
Earlier this month, non-partisan advocacy group Save Austin Now “submitted 20,514 signed and validated petitions to place a charter amendment on the November 2026 ballot that will require regular, outside, performance audits of the entire City of Austin budget for the first time in city history,” according to a message posted to Substack.
The petition calls for an amendment to the city charter requiring independent audits of municipal finances at least every five years.
In addition, in the event the city council wants to pursue a future tax rate election, the proposed charter amendment would require the municipal government to complete such an audit before the election could be called.
The City of Austin currently conducts various internal audits. The proposed charter amendment would supplement this process with regular external reviews.
The petition drive follows the November 2025 landslide defeat of Proposition Q, a ballot measure that could have enshrined hundreds of millions of dollars in municipal spending.
Proposition Q’s failure was the culmination of a series of record-setting municipal budgets. The city council approved its most recent record-setting $6.3 billion budget in August 2025.
This represented a nearly seven percent increase from 2024’s record of $5.9 billion, and a nearly 15 percent increase from 2023’s record of $5.5 billion. For perspective, Austin’s budget was $4.5 billion in 2021 and $3.3 billion in 2013.
Legislation that would have abolished the Austin City Council received a committee hearing from state lawmakers in 2025 and is expected to return in 2027.
