Arts groups sue over Trump's ‘gender ideology' executive order
Four arts organizations on Thursday sued the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) over its implementation of President Trump's executive order barring the use of federal funds for the promotion of 'gender ideology.'
The groups, which are seeking funding for projects that would 'affirm transgender and nonbinary identities and experiences,' say they have been effectively blocked from receiving grants from the agency that promotes artistic excellence, despite having received funds for similar projects in the past.
They argue that Congress made clear when creating the NEA that the only criteria for judging applications were 'artistic excellence and artistic merit.'
'This lawsuit seeks to enjoin an unlawful and unconstitutional exercise of executive power that has sowed chaos in the funding of arts projects across the United States, causing grievous irreparable harm to Plaintiffs and other organizations,' wrote Lynette Labinger, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is backing the case.
On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order titled ' Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.' It directed that federal funds 'shall not be used to promote gender ideology.'
The order has been challenged in court before, but the arts organizations' lawsuit marks the first time artists have waded into the legal fight.
'The vagueness of the prohibition requires them to guess as to what if anything they can create, produce, or promote that addresses themes of gender, or that affirms the identities of all people regardless of their gender identity,' Labinger wrote.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Rhode Island on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts, a Latino-led arts organization; the National Queer Theater, a theater company in Brooklyn, N.Y., dedicated to uplifting LGBTQ artists; the Theater Offensive, a Boston theater group dedicated to the production of queer works; and Theatre Communications Group, a nonprofit promoting professional non-profit theatre.
Vera Eidelman, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said in a statement that blocking grant eligibility for artists because the message of their work is one the government does not like 'runs directly counter' to the NEA's purpose and the role of art in society.
'This gag on artists' speech has had a ripple effect across the entire art world, from Broadway to community arts centers,' Eidelman said. 'Grants from the NEA are supposed to be about one thing: artistic excellence.'
Erin Harkey, chief executive officer of Americans for the Arts, said the Trump administration's 'gender ideology' executive order has implications beyond the NEA and 'raises serious constitutional issues.'
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