US arts funder withdraws controversial ‘gender ideology’ clause linked to Trump orders

A controversial new funding process in the United States requiring artists and arts organisations to certify that they will not ‘promote gender ideology’ with federal government funding has been suspended.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an independent agency which receives around $200m from the US government annually to distribute to cultural organisations, had introduced a requirement for grant applicants to sign a pledge that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology” as part of its application process.

The stipulation was brought in to comply with an executive order set by President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration in January, which called for federal funds to be restricted from initiatives that acknowledge gender as a spectrum rather than tied to sex assigned at birth.

A lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), on behalf of several arts organisations, against the requirement last week (6 March), arguing the policy violates the US constitution by “imposing a vague and viewpoint-based restriction on artists’ speech”.

As of Friday (7 March), the NEA agreed to remove the requirement for the pledge to be signed as part of the application. However, the legal requirements for funding on its website, which indicate projects deemed to promote gender ideology will be excluded, remains.

The change arrived just ahead of the deadline for the first part of the NEA’s current funding opportunity, its biannual Grants For Arts Projects scheme, which closes today (11 March). 

‘Huge step towards initial relief’

The ACLU has released a statement saying the removal of the certification requirement means artists and arts organisations should feel free to submit the first part of the application “without having to agree to a certification that could have compromised their values or their vision”.

The union is asking for a preliminary injunction on the funding prohibition ahead of the final grant application deadline, which is 24 March. A hearing date is currently scheduled for 18 March.

Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the union, said the “gag on artists’ speech has had a ripple effect across the entire art world, from Broadway to community arts centres”.

“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,” Eidelman added.

“We won’t stop fighting until these new requirements are struck down for good.”

‘Ironic and discriminatory’

In the lawsuit, the ACLU said the NEA’s funding rule had “sowed chaos in the funding of arts projects across the United States”.

Among the organisations the union is representing are Rhode Island Latino Arts, Boston-based Theatre Offensive and New-York based National Queer Theatre, the latter of which profiles work from artists from countries where their sexuality is criminalised or censored through its Criminal Queerness Festival.

Founding director of National Queer Theatre, Adam Odsess-Rubin, told the New York Times: “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”.

Other organisations across the US, including a group of American theatres consisting of Long Wharf Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Portland Centre Stage and the Public Theatre, have called for the removal of the funding stipulation, adding they would not agree to the condition.