{"id":5061961,"date":"2025-10-31T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rilatinonews.com\/?p=5061961"},"modified":"2025-10-31T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T11:00:00","slug":"rhode-island-latino-protest-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/riln\/2025\/10\/31\/rhode-island-latino-protest-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rhode Island Latino Arts fought the Trump administration in court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While applying for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts earlier this year, Marta Martinez, executive director of the nonprofit Rhode Island Latino Arts, noticed that she was required to check a box that said that the organization would not \u201cpromote gender ideology.\u201d She contacted the ACLU, who took on the case, and earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the NEA<\/a> could not disfavor groups based on whether or not they promoted \u201cgender ideology.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morning host Luis Hernandez talked with Marta Martinez and Lynette Labinger, one of the attorneys who represented RILA and 3 other arts organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview highlights:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What was the case that RILA and the ACLU argued in court?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lynette Labinger:<\/strong> \u200aThe purpose of these grants is to promote artistic expression, not to hire people to be a mouthpiece for the government. The statute is very clear and the legislative history underlying it is very clear, that Congress in passing this law did not want the government to control what artists say. The only criteria were artistic excellence and talent and artistic merit; not to tell artists what productions to put on or how to do their artwork. And this particular requirement says that you shall not promote gender ideology, which is in and of itself a somewhat obscure term as to what is and what it\u2019s not. But from our perspective, and the court agreed, it is taking one side of an issue, which is called a viewpoint and saying, \u201cWe will favor one viewpoint, but we will disfavor another viewpoint.\u201d And that is fundamental First Amendment activity. And it was something that is contrary to the purpose of this grant process and also contrary to the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why go to the courts to challenge this policy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labinger: <\/strong>\u200aWe are a firm believer in seeking relief from the courts for government overreach, either at the local level or at the national level. As you see in the last several months, there\u2019s been a lot of actions to try to challenge what we consider government overreach and excessive power, particularly where you see that the legislature is not standing up passing new laws that basically clarify or confirm what they\u2019ve already dictated. This is a classic case where the statute was very clear as to the purpose of these grants. And that was very helpful to us in our arguments that the government was acting contrary to the statutes. And that\u2019s where the courts come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Trump administration has threatened to target groups and cut funding to the arts, what has that done to artists and organizations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marta Martinez: <\/strong>\u200aThat\u2019s what\u2019s so beautiful about working in the arts and the arts community, is that they don\u2019t sit back. They\u2019re ready to create. The storytellers are expressing themselves even much stronger. The art that I\u2019ve seen is really powerful \u2014 the messages that they put in \u2014 and it\u2019s those people that I was thinking of. I didn\u2019t want to ever tell them they couldn\u2019t do that. To express themselves through their art form and feel freely and to feel that the courts and the Constitution is behind them now. It\u2019s legal. It\u2019s legal, and it feels so good to say that it\u2019s a law. That they can\u2019t discriminate against us if we choose to express ourselves the way we are and talk about who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labinger<\/strong>: \u200aThese are difficult times. It\u2019s very challenging for nonprofits throughout the country that are trying to do good work. It\u2019s something that we all have to continue to be vigilant about and stand up to government overreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez: <\/strong>\u200aI really want to encourage everyone, not just the art community to speak up, to do what\u2019s right. If it doesn\u2019t feel right, then it\u2019s not right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Why Rhode Island Latino Arts fought the Trump administration in court<\/a> was originally published by The Public’s Radio and is republished with permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Providence-based nonprofit and three other arts organizations won a lawsuit, with the help of the local ACLU, against the Trump administration\u2019s campaign targeting \u2018gender ideology.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":5061962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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