An HIV expert at the CDC was asked to scrub data on trans people. He quit instead. “I thought about my transgender patients and how I would face them.”
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/12/an-hiv-expert-at-the-cdc-was-asked-to-scrub-data-on-trans-people-he-quit-instead/
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>Weiser had been preparing a paper based on MMP data that addressed opiate use among transgender people with HIV. Data showed those individuals didn’t receive drug treatment in numbers comparable to other populations. Research indicated that addressing that disparity could improve outcomes targeting HIV transmission.
>“We were getting ready to publish this study, but when I put the paper through CDC’s clearance process, I was told to remove data about the prevalence of opioid misuse among transgender people,” Weiser told [*POZ magazine*](https://www.poz.com/article/hiv-expert-refused-censor-data-quit-cdc).
>“I thought carefully about that, and I decided not to do that, because it’s bad science to suppress data for ideological reasons and because erasing people from the story harms actual people. I thought about my transgender patients and how I would face them, and what I would say to them while I’m sitting with them in the exam room, knowing that I had erased their existence from the CDC.
>“I withdrew the paper,” he said.
>In May, the Trump administration ended funding for the Medical Monitoring Project.
>After being fired and then brought back to the agency in June, Weiser ultimately resigned.
“I knew this was no longer the best place for me. I could do more good by spending extra time taking care of my patients,” he said.
The only plausible explanation for this is that Christian nationalists literally delight in people getting AIDS and dying. It’s back to 80s Reagan all over again.
Christian nationalists don’t care about people dying of diseases, because they view people dying of HIV/AIDS as God “ridding the Earth” of the “infidels”, like trans people.
There isn’t a crueler ideology than Christian nationalism. Any Christian nationalist who attempts to justify this instead of calling this out is a monster, in my eyes.
Why the fuck do these idiot bastards have to be such pieces of shit? Can’t they just for once do something without the intention of causing pain to those they don’t like?
Just state it openly, you fucking pigs.
You want them all dead.
And then you wonder why they strike back, especially with nothing left to lose.
Good on that HIV expert for quitting. Transgender people deserve care and the GOP is monsters for not allowing that.
>I thought carefully about that, and I decided not to do that, because it’s bad science to suppress data for ideological reasons and because erasing people from the story harms actual people.
Okay but the American people aren’t paying you for good science free of ideological bias. The American people want their government institutions politically and ideologically aligned with the ruling party. It was a major issue of contention in 2024 and this is what America chose.
Ugh I’m so tired of these people quitting.
Don’t quit!! Make them fire you..and then sue their asses.
Quitting is exactly what they want.
Scrubbing data, trying to rewrite history, erasing people, and redefine reality seems to be a hallmark of this administration. Fascist.
Oh look, censorship.
At this point I can only conclude that the fixation on trans issues is part of the admins’ sleight‑of‑hand. Pick a highly divisive topic that gets everyone worked up and keep hammering on it – all while they’re quietly picking your pocket. They don’t actually give a damn one way or another. But the damage is being done . . .
Complying in advance. Stay no and fight for your job and the people.
You can guarantee he was replaced with a worse version.
Public health shouldn’t be a PR exercise , but here we are watching data get treated like bad screenshots.
that’s ethical
Many people opted out of actively committing atrocities in Nazi Germany, but enough others were willing to step up. Quitting is better than participating, but not good enough.
Next time, release the files. Send them to a newspaper and tell them you are being silenced. Identify the one silencing you.
America needs fewer government retirements and more whistleblowers.
Quit? It would be better to stay, pretend to be incompetent and fuck them over.
Changing the data to reflect their gender at birth. Wow, unbelievable that a health organization would label people what they are based on their DNA makeup.
We need to put all of that data on lime wire
Really makes you wonder how many times this has happened, but the person didn’t have enough moral fortitude (alternatively, enough wealth to not be destitute from quitting their job) to walk away.
It’s sad though, as that is the kind of person you *want* to be in that position. I know someone who took the payout and retired early, despite all the good they were doing (US Forest Service), because of all the garbage that was being unloaded on them for trying to make a change for the better. I’m glad that he is doing much better now (he was really having a hard time from the stress of being railroaded), but dammit if I didn’t wish he was still in his role, “fighting the good fight”.
My wife was working for a federal contractor on contract to CMS. They were ordered to scrub any data from non-whites from their datasets.
Was he asked, or forced? I keep hearing stories of government positions being asked to do something immoral so they quit instead. That’s great and all symbolically, but haven’t you just opened up the position to somebody who will align with the values of the president or department head? I hope I’m not understanding correctly, because IMO the large amount of people who have done this have let fascism take over the country as easily as possible.
Ok, after reading, it seems like he was forced, but I’ve still heard this many times with people resigning like Fauci. My question still stands. Wouldn’t they be better off causing as much of a resistance as possible?
More people need to be like this. The *status quo* stakeholders use the threat of unemployment as a cudgel. This happens across all industries. Our employment arrangements look more and more like enthrallment arrangements.
Of course that’s easy for me to say, I live an insanely cheap lifestyle and will quit a job if my manager looks at me wrong, but surely there’s a middle ground
You’ll never find a more oppressed set of people than the majority that is white, straight Christians.
Better copy the data before the next guy deletes it.