logo
Theaters Sue the N.E.A. Over Trump's ‘Gender Ideology' Order

Theaters Sue the N.E.A. Over Trump's ‘Gender Ideology' Order

New York Times06-03-2025

Several arts organizations sued the National Endowment for the Arts on Thursday, challenging its new requirement that grant applicants agree to comply with President Trump's executive orders by promising not to promote 'gender ideology.'
The groups that filed the suit have made or supported art about transgender and nonbinary people, and have received N.E.A. funding in the past. They say the new requirement unconstitutionally threatens their eligibility for future grants.
'Because they seek to affirm transgender and nonbinary identities and experiences in the projects for which they seek funding, plaintiffs are effectively barred by the 'gender ideology' certification and prohibition from receiving N.E.A. grants on artistic merit and excellence grounds,' the lawsuit says.
The groups are being represented in the litigation by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said in the lawsuit that the N.E.A. rule 'has sowed chaos in the funding of arts projects across the United States.' After Mr. Trump began his second term, the N.E.A. said it would require grant applicants to agree 'that federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,' which Mr. Trump said in an executive order includes 'the false claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa.'
The N.E.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit was filed in a federal court in Rhode Island on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts, which promotes art made by Latinos; the Theater Offensive, an organization in Boston that presents work 'by, for and about queer and trans people of color'; and National Queer Theater, a New York company best known for its Criminal Queerness Festival, which presents the work of international artists with roots in countries where their sexuality is criminalized or censored.
'The N.E.A. has been a very robust supporter of ours,' said Adam Odsess-Rubin, the founding artistic director of National Queer Theater, which received $20,000 from the N.E.A. in 2023, $25,000 in 2024, and has been scheduled to receive $20,000 this year. 'It's ironic for us to be asked to check a box saying we won't promote gender ideology; it doesn't make sense to us; it's not clear how it serves the American public at all, and, frankly, it's discriminatory."
Theater Communications Group, a national organization based in New York with 650 member theaters and affiliated organizations, is also among the plaintiffs.
Vera Eidelman, a lawyer at the A.C.L.U., said her organization would ask a judge to stop the new requirement before the next N.E.A. grant application deadline this month. The A.C.L.U. will argue that, by imposing a viewpoint-based restriction on grant applicants, the N.E.A. is violating both its statutory authority and the Constitution.
'There are serious questions about what the reaches of it are,' Ms. Eidelman said. 'Does it mean you can't cast someone who is nonbinary or transgender, or can't have a character who identifies as such? That you can't have a male character who dresses as a woman? So much art involves those themes, and has throughout history.'
The suit is part of a wave of legal challenges to executive actions by the Trump administration.
The N.E.A., in addition to demanding that grant applicants promise not to promote 'gender ideology,' had also required that applicants agree not to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in ways that violate anti-discrimination laws. But that requirement is currently on hold because of a preliminary injunction issued by a judge in Maryland.
The new compliance requirements have been prompting concern for many artists and arts institutions, and on Wednesday four leading American theaters — the Public Theater and New York Theater Workshop in New York, Long Wharf Theater in Connecticut, and Portland Center Stage in Oregon — issued a statement saying they would not agree to the new N.E.A. guidelines, and calling for them to be withdrawn.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Judge says Columbia University activist facing deportation should be freed
Judge says Columbia University activist facing deportation should be freed

Yahoo

time33 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Judge says Columbia University activist facing deportation should be freed

Supporters of Mahmoud Khalil rally outside the federal courthouse in Newark on March 28, 2025. (Reena Rose Sibayan for New Jersey Monitor) A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a Columbia University activist detained for partaking in pro-Palestinian protests cannot be held by the federal government over allegations that his presence in the United States undermines the nation's foreign policy interests. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued the order Wednesday but gave federal prosecutors until Friday at 9:30 a.m. to ask the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to step in. It's unclear if the activist, Mahmoud Khalil, will be released Friday if the government does indeed appeal. 'This is the news we've been waiting over three months for. Mahmoud must be released immediately and safely returned home to New York to be with me and our newborn baby, Deen,' Noor Abdalla, Khalil's wife, said in a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of New York. 'True justice would mean Mahmoud was never taken away from us in the first place, that no Palestinian father, from New York to Gaza, would have to endure the painful separation of prison walls like Mahmoud has.' If it stands, Farbiarz's ruling, which comes on the heels of a previous decision that said the government's push to deport Khalil was likely unconstitutional, could deal a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to deport dissidents. Khalil was arrested by immigration authorities in March and has been held in Louisiana since. He's fighting two cases to fend off his deportation — one in Louisiana and one in New Jersey, because he was being transferred through Elizabeth Detention Center when his attorneys first filed a petition for his release. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed Khalil supports terrorist group Hamas and called his presence in the country a national security risk. Rubio has cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil's deportation. Farbiarz noted in his Wednesday ruling that the government could argue that Khalil would have been detained anyway because he inaccurately filled out his lawful permanent resident application, which can be a basis for removal under very rare circumstances. But that argument won't work, he said. 'Lawful permanent residents are virtually never detained pending removal for the sort of alleged omission' Khalil is accused of, the judge wrote in the 14-page filing. Khalil, whose wife and newborn son are American citizens, has not been charged with any crime. He was among the first university students who were picked up by immigration authorities targeting pro-Palestine activists. Some students who were detained under similar circumstances have been released but still face deportation. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins
Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins

Yahoo

time33 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on Wednesday it has decreased its annual non-defense federal obligations by an additional ~1.9% since last month. As of June 8th, annual non-defense federal obligations are down 22.4%, or ~$25B, as compared to 2024, DOGE announced on X. The cut marks an additional ~1.9% reduction from last month's figures, which were announced on May 8. Doge's Greatest Hits: Look Back At The Department's Most High-profile Cuts During Trump's First 100 Days "Cash outlays will follow as obligations come due," DOGE wrote in the post. "Our initiative to reduce wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, continues to bear fruit." On May 14, DOGE announced the current year's non-defense federal obligations were down 20.5% as compared to 2024. Read On The Fox News App The announcement came minutes before Fox News Digital was first to report the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rehired CDC employees came from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center, according to an HHS official familiar with the matter. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April some personnel who were cut shouldn't have been. Doge Ends 108 'Wasteful' Contracts, Including For An 'Executive Transformational Leadership Training Program' "We're reinstating them, and that was always the plan," Kennedy said. "Part of the—at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we're going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we'll make mistakes." In addition to the HHS rehires, the Internal Revenue Service, Food and Drug Administration, State Department, and Department of Housing and Urban Development started rehiring employees let go during DOGE cuts, the Washington Post reported. Doge Takes A Chainsaw To Federal Spending With 7 Major Victories This Week: 'Got To Be Done' Another roadblock this week was a ruling from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, who ruled to restrict the agency's access to federal databases. The Trump administration previously said DOGE could not work effectively with the limitations, noting DOGE needed to access Social Security information to root out fraud. Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel and Danielle Wallace contributed to this article source: Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins

Pulse shooting survivors, family members tour building before demolition
Pulse shooting survivors, family members tour building before demolition

Yahoo

time34 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Pulse shooting survivors, family members tour building before demolition

Survivors and family members of the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting are touring the inside of the building for a final look before it's torn down. About 250 people accepted the city of Orlando's invitation to tour the building where Omar Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others during a Latin Night celebration at the popular LGBTQIA+ club on June 12, 2016. Mateen was killed following an hourslong standoff with police. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas would eclipse the Pulse shooting's death toll the following year. The visits, which coincide with the shooting's nine-year mark, are being done in small groups over the course of four days, with survivors and family members spending about a half hour inside, according to The Associated Press. Christine Leionen lost her only child, 32-year-old Christopher, in the shooting. Wednesday marked the first time she saw where her son was killed. "My son died on that dance floor. He was shot nine times, and he bled to death on that dance floor," she told CBS News. She said going to Pulse was "a way to try to experience his last seconds of life. I just want to feel closer to him." Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who also visited the site, said the visit "took me back nine years." "Reflecting on being in the command center on Orange Avenue as all the things are transpiring and, eventually, the shooting of the killer and then the realization of just how many people were impacted," he said, according to CBS affiliate WKMG-TV. Dyer said the people visiting included 25 of the 49 victims' families. The city of Orlando is planning to build a permanent memorial where the building currently stands. City officials approved a plan to buy the property for $2 million back in 2023, following several previous failed attempts to buy the land. Family members and some survivors had been pushing for a permanent memorial for years before the purchase. But some of the families and survivors still have questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the shooting or if police could have done more to save people. Questions also surround the ensuing investigation and the issue of whether the attack was a hate crime. "I lived that night, but it's a constant sacrifice to keep moving every day," survivor Maritza Gomez told WKMG back when the city approved the plan to buy the property. "I don't think that Pulse should be diminished. I think that an investigation should be taken care of first." An accused woman skips her pedicure, kills her ex-husband Watch California Gov. Gavin Newsom's full speech on federal response to Los Angeles protests LAPD chief speaks out about deployment of military forces to anti-ICE protests

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store