Since taking over in January, the current White House administration has been pushing universities, organizations, and businesses to avoid “woke –  ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion” activities and sentiments.

In order to receive grants the National Endowment for the Arts was requiring artists to confirm they were not promoting and DEI programs and “gender Ideology”.

The White House defines “gender ideology” as “the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex” and recognizes only male and female sexes.

The ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit over the issue.

On September 19 a federal judge ruled that the “gender ideology” order was a violation of First Amendment rights of the artists.

U.S. Senior District Court Judge William Smith noted, “policy barring any project that ‘promotes gender ideology’ from receiving funding ‘runs afoul of the First Amendment” because it would force artists to self censor and “reduce the likelihood that any grant application that ‘promotes gender ideology’ will receive funding.”

In his decision, Smith pointed to the 1965 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act that upon establishing the NEA grants would be awarded “based on talent alone, irrespective of the artists’ identities, backgrounds, viewpoints, or perspectives.”

Adding, “the NEA supports private art, not government propaganda.”

The ACLU filed the suit in March on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and Theatre Communications Group.

Over the years, the theatres had received over 50 NEA grants for works that “broadly explore themes of sex, gender, and identity that administration officials could consider to ‘promote gender ideology.’”

ACLU staff attorney Vera Eidelman issued a statement saying, “this is an important victory for freedom of speech and artistic freedom. At a time where the government is using its full weight to try to impose ideological conformity, this order is an important reminder that the First Amendment protects us from exactly that. Even when the government funds private speech, it does not get to support only those messages that parrot its views.”

Producing Director Rose Oser at the National Queer Theater spoke on the issue saying, “what matters is that we fought back, that we took a stand for queer and trans artists. Because when [the NEA] announced their guidelines, we were so angry and upset and sad. And it really felt like the taking legal action was something that we had to do, because this was a fight that actually felt like it was worth fighting in court.” 

NQT was one of the many theatres in the nation who had their previously approved funding rescinded due to the actions of the White House administration.

Oser added,”I certainly think this is a win for any kind of First Amendment argument. So I think if others are fighting around the DEI issues, this could be used to help those cases.”

After the ACLU filed the suit, the NEA made some changes to their grant applications saying each request would be considered on a “case by case” basis “for artistic excellence and merit, including whether the proposed project promotes gender ideology.”  The NEA added that no application would be denied solely on the “gender ideology requirement”.

But according to the court ruling, the NEA is still violating the First Amendment.

Executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island Steven Brown said via statement, “the First Amendment doesn’t allow the federal government to restrict speech based on what the current administration may or may not like. Congress specifically set up the National Endowment for the Arts to insulate it from this type of political meddling in funding the arts.This ruling is a win for our plaintiffs, and for free speech.”

The NEA is one of many organizations that the administration is trying to defund and eliminate under his “woke” accusations.