The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has agreed to suspend a controversial requirement that grant applicants certify they would not “promote gender ideology,” a condition imposed under an executive order from the Trump administration.
The retreat comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of several arts organizations, arguing that the measure is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.
While artists can now apply for funding without signing the contested pledge, the NEA has not removed broader eligibility restrictions that continue to exclude projects deemed to “promote gender ideology.” The legal battle is far from over. The ACLU has requested a preliminary injunction to block the restrictions entirely before the final grant application deadline on March 24. A hearing is scheduled for March 18.
At the heart of the dispute is President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14168, which he signed on January 20, the day of his inauguration. The order seeks to limit federal support for initiatives that acknowledge gender as a spectrum rather than a binary tied to sex assigned at birth. The NEA incorporated this directive into its grant guidelines, requiring applicants to attest they would not use public funds to advance those ideas. Following the lawsuit, the NEA agreed on March 8 to drop the certification requirement while the case is pending, but it has not committed to revising its grant selection criteria, according to NPR.
The move is a partial victory for the plaintiffs, which include Rhode Island Latino Arts, National Queer Theater, The Theater Offensive, and the Theater Communications Group. “This is a huge step towards initial relief,” Vera Eidelman, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said in a press release that noted the NEA’s broader restrictions still pose a serious threat to artistic freedom.
Critics argue that the restrictions undermine the very mission of the NEA. “This new prohibition runs directly counter to the point of the NEA, and to the point of art in general, which is to explore ideas, explore the diversity of human experience,” Eidelman told NPR.
Artists and arts organizations have expressed concerns that the uncertainty around funding eligibility will discourage applications altogether. Adam Odsess-Rubin, founding artistic director of the National Queer Theater in New York, which is seeking funding for a festival featuring plays by dramatists from countries with anti-LGBTQ+ laws, told NPR the restrictions were “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.”
The NEA, which has faced scrutiny for its role in implementing Trump-era executive orders, has not commented publicly on the lawsuit. However, it has quietly revised similar grant conditions in the past. In February, after a separate legal challenge, the agency dropped a requirement that applicants pledge compliance with another executive order restricting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives. However, the March 24 deadline fast approaching, and the outcome of the case could have immediate consequences for artists seeking federal funding in the current grant cycle.
