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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” in order to apply for funding while the outcome of the case from the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Rhode Island is pending. Artists can now apply for funding without attesting to the new “gender ideology” requirement, but 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. 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. “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. 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. The ACLU, the ACLU of Rhode Island, David Cole, and Lynette Labinger, cooperating counsel for the ACLU-RI, filed suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts; National Queer Theater; The Theater Offensive; and the Theater Communications Group. The suit argues that the new certification requirement and funding prohibition violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment. A hearing date is scheduled for March 18. More information about the case can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/rhode-island-latino-arts-v-national-endowment-for-the-arts

A student is suing UC Santa Cruz to challenge the unconstitutional search and seizure of her phone in retaliation for her participation in a pro-Palestine, anti-war protest last spring.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Artists and theater groups are challenging a new certification requirement and funding prohibition that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has imposed on grant applications. The NEA now requires applicants to attest that they will not “promote gender ideology” in order to be eligible for funding and blocks any projects that reasonably appear to “promote gender ideology” from getting an award. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Rhode Island, David Cole, and Lynette Labinger, cooperating counsel for the ACLU-RI, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island on behalf of Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA); National Queer Theater (NQT); The Theater Offensive (TTO); and the Theatre Communications Group (TCG). The suit argues that the new certification requirement and funding prohibition violate the First Amendment, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Fifth Amendment. The ACLU is asking for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order before the grant application deadline on March 24. “This gag on artists' speech has had a ripple effect across the entire art world, from Broadway to community arts centers,” said Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. “Grants from the NEA are supposed to be about one thing: artistic excellence. Blocking eligibility for artists because they express a message the government doesn’t like runs directly counter to the NEA’s purpose, the First Amendment’s prohibition on viewpoint-based regulation, and the role of art in our society.” In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directs that “[f]ederal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology.” "The arts are foundational to Providence and to Rhode Island at large,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “Requiring artists to sign a loyalty oath in exchange for funding is not what Congress intended for the endowment, nor is it in line with the First Amendment. We will continue to fight for the freedom of all artists to experiment and push boundaries, because we deserve a cultural sphere that is as diverse and as vibrant as our communities are.” Rhode Island Latino Arts is a nonprofit organization that celebrates and supports visual art, music, theater, and more from the Latino community. It planned to apply for NEA funding for either a production of “Faust,” for which it considered casting a nonbinary actor, or a storytelling program, previous iterations of which included discussions of LGBTQ topics. Due to the requirement, RILA is changing its project to ensure it does not run afoul of the certification and prohibition. “Artistic expression is a fundamental right,” said Marta V. Martinez, executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts. “Our communities deserve to see art that reflects their experiences, and that challenges them to consider something new. All of our projects are designed to welcome and celebrate a diverse array of identities and experiences, especially those of recent immigrants and those from the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. That is the principle RILA was founded on, and we can’t be bullied into compromising our values.” National Queer Theater is a New York based theater collective that celebrates LGBTQ theater artists. They intend to apply for funding for the Criminal Queerness Festival, a theater festival featuring work from playwrights from countries where queerness is illegal or dangerous, which they have hosted since 2019. “We created Criminal Queerness to give a home to writers who face criminalization or censorship in their own country,” said Adam Odsess-Rubin, founding artistic director of National Queer Theater. “It is a cruel irony that we may now be ineligible for funding because our so-called ‘gender ideology’ is being targeted by the U.S. government. These new requirements threaten the expression of not just our organization, but artists around the world whose identities have been criminalized.” The Theater Offensive is a Boston-based theater company with a mission to present liberating art by, for, and about queer and trans people of color. It is applying for funding for an original play entitled “Smoke,” set against the backdrop of 1960s Washington, D.C. “Smoke” explores love, found family, motherhood, and healing and reveals the complexities of trans life at a turning point in the fight for their human rights. “There is no theater community without the immense contributions of queer trans artists,” said Giselle Byrd, executive director of The Theater Offensive. “This pledge from the NEA further attacks the rights and dignity of trans and nonbinary people, silencing our voices at a time when they are most needed. The power and purpose of art is to make us feel, to force us to think, to challenge our worldview, and to connect with people who are different from us. Censoring art means censoring what makes us human.” Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, serves over 600 member theatres and affiliate organizations, as well as more than 3,500 individual members. TCG reaches over one million theatre professionals, students, and audience members each year through its programs and services. Many of TCG's member theatres across the country rely on federal funding to sustain their work. "Theatre is a vital tool for connecting us across identities and experiences," said Emilya Cachapero, co-executive director of National and Global Programming at TCG. "TCG stands in full support of the NEA’s mission to create art that sustains, strengthens and nurtures the diverse fabric of our country. However, efforts to block theatres from receiving NEA funding are a direct attempt to stifle artistic expression and undermine the essential role theatre plays in American society." Today's filing can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/rhode-island-latino-arts-v-national-endowment-for-the-arts?document=Complaint

On March 6, 2025, the ACLU; the ACLU of Rhode Island; Lynette Labinger, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Rhode Island; and David Cole filed a federal lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), challenging a new requirement that all grant applicants certify that “federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 14168, and a related prohibition on funding any projects that appear to “promote” such messages.