PROVIDENCE, R.I.: The National Endowment for the Arts today agreed to remove a certification requirement that forced artists to attest that they will not “promote gender ideology”—language added a month ago to the website’s Assurance of Compliance page that cited President Trump’s anti-trans executive order—in order to apply for funding while the outcome of a challenge to the requirement filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Rhode Island filed on Thursday on behalf of a number of arts organizations is pending review.
The news is mixed, however. While artists may now apply for funding without attesting to the new “gender ideology” requirement, the NEA has not agreed to remove its new eligibility criteria, under which any projects that appear to “promote gender ideology” will not receive an award. (NEA grants are paid as reimbursements, not awarded upfront.) Applicants who choose to submit Part 1 of the grant application before the NEA changes its Assurance of Compliance or before March 11, whichever is sooner, may still want to make clear that they object to the certification when submitting that piece of their application.
“Artists and arts organizations should feel free to submit 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,” said Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, in a statement. “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 toward initial relief. We won’t stop fighting until these new requirements are struck down for good.”
The ACLU is asking for a preliminary injunction on the funding prohibition ahead of the final grant application deadline on March 24. Other guidelines added in February to the Assurance of Compliance page, written to conform to the president’s executive orders targeting “DEI” and promoting “merit-based” hiring, have been enjoined. A hearing date for the ACLU case is scheduled for March 18.
The suit was filed on Thursday by the ACLU, the ACLU of Rhode Island, David Cole, and Lynette Labinger, cooperating counsel for the ACLU-RI, on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts; National Queer Theater; The Theater Offensive; and the Theater Communications Group, the publisher of this magazine. The suit argues that the new certification requirement and funding prohibition violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment.
More information about the case can be found here.
