Overview

• U.S. District Senior Judge William Smith in Providence enjoined the NEA from disfavoring applications deemed to “promote gender ideology” and vacated the agency’s current implementation plans.
• The case was brought in March by Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and Theatre Communications Group, represented by the ACLU.
• Following President Trump’s January executive order, the NEA first required applicants to certify they would not promote “gender ideology,” then on April 30 adopted a policy allowing the chair to weigh that factor in judging merit.
• Smith wrote that the NEA cannot deny or downgrade applications “simply because they promote disfavored views,” and he found the approach exceeded the agency’s statutory authority in addition to violating the First Amendment.
• The ruling keeps the lawsuit active while barring use of a viewpoint-based standard in grant decisions, and the NEA did not immediately comment.