NEA suspends rule after ACLU files lawsuit contesting ‘gender ideology' ban
Lynette Labinger, who is representing four plaintiffs in a suit against the National Endowment for the Arts, is seen with Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, at a press conference on March 6, 2025. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
Arts organizations applying for grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) don't have to confirm that their potential projects won't 'promote gender ideology' — at least for the time being, while litigation is pending.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Rhode Island announced last Friday evening that its court challenge, filed against the NEA last Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, was at least temporarily successful in suspending an ideological pledge for grant applicants.
Prompting the lawsuit in part was that potential grantees would need to tick a box verifying their proposals would not clash with the tenets outlined in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, titled 'Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.'
'Artists and artist organizations can move forward on preparing and presenting proposals for critically needed NEA grants without being forced to subscribe to a principle that may be contrary to their core beliefs and mission,' Lynette Labinger, the ACLU of RI's cooperating attorney on the case, said in a statement Friday.
The NEA policy page which sought to align the agency's funding policy to the executive order has been updated since the lawsuit's announcement to read: 'PLEASE NOTE: Pending the outcome of litigation in the United States District Court of Rhode Island…The NEA is not currently requiring any grantee to make any 'certification' or other representation pursuant to Executive Order 14168.'
The four plaintiffs in the suit are Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and the Theater Communications Group. The groups argued last Thursday that the new rules would force the groups to assert values incompatible with the basic premises of their arts organizations, many of which highlight queer and LGBTQ+ stories.
But the ACLU of RI said the NEA has not yet agreed to remove the eligibility criteria for funding, and that projects which are viewed as having unfavorable viewpoints might still not be funded.
'We will continue to seek urgent relief against the NEA's unconstitutional bar on projects that express messages the government doesn't like, but this is a huge step towards initial relief. We won't stop fighting until these new requirements are struck down for good,' Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said in a statement.
Eidelman advised organizations that they could still apply for 'Part 1 of the NEA application on March 11 without having to agree to a certification that could have compromised their values or their vision.' Applicants can also note their objection to the new certification procedure.
The ACLU wants to see a preliminary injunction on the funding prohibition ahead of the final grant deadline on March 24. A court hearing is scheduled for March 18.
Labinger said at a March 6 press briefing that the lawsuit identifies the federal preference for one perspective over another as 'viewpoint discrimination,' which may violate the First Amendment.
'Our lawsuit points out that that is contrary to the statute that created the NEA, it is arbitrary and capricious, the standard of 'promoting gender ideology' is unknown, and therefore vague and inapplicable,' Labinger said. 'Also it's apparently saying that it's okay to be anti- gender ideology, but not for it. If that's what 'promoting' is, that's what we call viewpoint discrimination.'
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