HRC asks Lubbock City Council to reconsider funding for First Friday Art Trail

A week after the Lubbock City Council voted to reject the $30,000 grant for the First Friday Art Trail, the Human Rights Campaign sent a letter condemning the council’s decision and asking it to reconsider.

Last week, the council voted 5-2 to deny the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts’ FFAT a city grant, funded through the Hotel Occupancy Chat, because the center promotes the “gay agenda” through LGBT workshops and drag shows.

The issue was brought forward by District 3 Councilman David Glasheen and was seconded by Mayor Mark McBrayer and Councilman District 4 Councilman Brayden Rose. District 1 Councilwoman Christy Martinez-Garcia voiced her opposition to denying the funds.

Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy for HRC, wrote in a letter to the City Council that “it is imperative that the City Council be aware that drag performances are constitutionally protected expression.” She pointed to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on the issue.

“Governments therefore do not have the power to restrict speech on the basis of its content, including the ideas it conveys and the subject matter it addresses,” the letter reads. “Similarly, restrictions based on a specific act or message by the speaker, in this case a performer, are a more egregious violation of freedom of expression protections. To be clear, the vote to deny funding on the grounds that drag performances can be part of a publicly funded event necessarily targets such performances on the basis of their content. Drag performers are thus specifically targeted because they have engaged in this type of speech and form of expression.”

More: Mayor responds to Lubbock concerns over council cutting funding for First Friday Art Trail

Oakley went on to say that the council cited another reason for denying funding, namely that they considered art exhibitions aimed at LGBT people to be inappropriate, which she said was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

She also echoes the sentiment Martinez-Garcia expressed at the meeting: people have a choice about whether to attend FFAT, including parents who choose to bring their children to the events.

“The Court makes clear that parental rights include the ability to consent to their children being exposed to forms of expression that may be considered inappropriate to others and that drag performances are no different than one’s taste in music or feelings about certain types of comedy performances,” the brief reads. “There is nothing inherently adult or obscene about drag performances.”

Oakley noted in her letter that more than 400 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced across the country this year and that the council’s decision to defund FFAT due to the fact that “LGBTQ+ inclusive events are part of the organization’s programming only compounds the harm and can be seen as part of this campaign to curb the rights of LGBTQ+ people.”

Oakley concludes the letter by asking the council to reconsider the vote.

“We respectfully request that FFAT be treated like any other group requesting public funds to host community events, with full recognition of the constitutional protections of speech and expression. We also request that the Lubbock City Council reconsider its decision to deny such funding,” the statement said.

McBrayer, for his part, released a statement Friday in response to the growing criticism of the decision. The mayor indicated that the council is working with stakeholders to find a solution. The full statement reads:

Thank you for taking the time to express your concern regarding the City Council’s vote not to provide the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) with a grant for this upcoming year’s First Friday Art Trail (FFAT). As you may know, the City of Lubbock, through the Cultural Arts Grant Awards program of Civic Lubbock, Inc. (CLI), supports approximately 30 different events in Lubbock each year. The money for these grants comes from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT tax) that the city collects from each hotel stay. As such, it is a taxpayer-funded program and the City Council is responsible for approving each grant.

I appreciate your dedication and enthusiasm for LHUCA. Like you, I enjoy the FFAT and generally find it worthy of our HOT tax support. Importantly, not every cultural arts event that applies for a grant is awarded, nor can the grant program provide substantial funding to all events taking place in the city. Nor are all applications funded to the full amount of the application. Choices must be made regarding worthy recipients. CLI conducts the initial review and then presents their recommendations to the City Council for final approval.

A common concern that many of you shared in your phone calls and emails was that CLI and LHUCA were not given advance notice that the vote to defund would occur and were not given the opportunity to respond with additional information and details regarding LHUCA’s request and CLI’s recommendation. City staff and I have since reached out to representatives from CLI and LHUCA to allow them to respond, and they have done so by providing additional facts and details, which I believe have influenced the council’s analysis. While I cannot speak for anyone else on the council, I am hopeful that with the additional information we receive, we will be able to reach a resolution regarding the funding of the grant with LHUCA and FFAT for the coming year.

With that, I simply ask that you give the City Council the opportunity to do this in a way that supports the arts in Lubbock in a way that is beneficial to our entire community. I appreciate your calls and emails. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue that concerns you.

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HRC asks Lubbock City Council to reconsider funding for First Friday Art Trail

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