Queer People Are Hardest Hit By Federal SNAP Freeze. How Many In AZ, Though, Is Unclear.

Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans remain unsure how they’ll afford groceries after SNAP benefits were frozen amid the government shutdown — a crisis only deepened after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay on last week’s federal court order that had required limited November payments.

The result: food stamps remain in limbo for hundreds of thousands of people who still haven’t received assistance this month — many of them members of Arizona’s LGBTQ+ community.

But it's unclear how many there are actually are. More than 2.1 million LGBTQ+ Americans across the nation are on SNAP benefits, according to a 2025 study done by the Williams Institute of UCLA. But granular statewide data is more difficult to find, making the impacts of food insecurity and the need for governmental assistance virtually unknowable.

But in Arizona, a handful of LGBTQ+ people have stepped forward and been open online with their difficulties in getting SNAP benefits—putting a face to the issue.

For people like Presley Nassise, the freeze hit hard and without warning.  

Nassise said it was “a very dehumanizing way to find out that you will not be able to afford food next month.”

Although Nassise works full time as a tattoo artist and part time as an assistant manager at a thrift shop, it’s still a struggle to keep up with bills and rising costs: “When I was an apprentice, which was just two years ago, I quite literally had no food in my fridge or pantry.”

Granted SNAP benefits in April, Nassise called the assistance “absolutely lifechanging,” with being able to to cook more healthy foods, and have the “dignity of choice.” 

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps eligible residents afford groceries based on income, employment, and immigration status. Nationally, LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. A UCLA Williams Institute report found that a higher percentage of LGBTQ+ adults rely on SNAP benefits than non-LGBTQ+ adults.

Last Monday, the Trump administration said that they will provide partial SNAP benefits for November after a federal judge ruled that the administration must disburse funding for the program. That funding was later halted through a stay by the Supreme Court, and has been extended recently to allow for Congress to fully fund the program. 

“These are real people in our communities,” Nassise said. “This isn’t some mythical entity that can’t afford food — this is your next door neighbor.”

As uncertainty grows, local businesses have stepped in. Nassise’s employer, King Pigeon Thrift & Vintage, organized a food drive that collected about a thousand pounds of donations. “I cried at work, because I knew where my next meal was going to come from,” he said.

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The all-day drive offered sandwich kits, produce, and pantry staples — no ID or proof of eligibility required. “The one silver lining of the freeze and the shutdown,” Nassise said, “is that I’ve seen in real time what community and mutual aid support look like.”

Food drive attendee Murphy Acosta said that even though she doesn’t qualify for SNAP, events like King Pigeon’s help her and her partner survive. 

Her partner, Cody Villarreal, works two jobs but said rising costs make it hard to keep up. “It just feels like what you want to do is handicapped by the fact that you have to make more and more money and you have less and less time to enjoy yourself,” Villareal said.

Phoenix resident Mary Blake, who also attended the drive, called the freeze “cruel and inhuman.” 

“Food insecurity should not be a thing,” Blake said. “Trying to punish people for being poor, even though they may be working full time and trying to care for their children, it’s just unacceptable.”