The Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in South Florida claims that that state and federal anti-LGBTQ policies have siphoned off the institution’s operating budget and scared off corporate investors, leaving the museum in financial peril.
“This is stretching into places that we really have not seen before. Our future is threatened now,” Robert Kesten, the museum’s CEO, told Axios. The museum calculated that more than half of its $1 million operating budget could disappear.
The museum’s troubles began last year when Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis cut over $32 million in arts and culture grants from the 2025 budget. That financial hit was exacerbated by President’s Donald Trump’s executive orders that called for an end to federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and the federal grants that fund them.
Last week, a federal judge blocked large parts of the President’s anti-DEI orders.
According to Kesten, the museum earlier this month received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for educational programs and exhibits. However, given the NEA’s recent emphasis on celebrating “the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity by honoring the semiquincentennial of the United States of America (America250)” Kesten has stated that the federal grant tap has, at least for the Stonewall, run dry.
The political situation, the museum said, has made corporate donors gun shy. According to the Miami Herald, the Stonewall’s annual gala fundraiser has only one corporate sponsor, compared to at least six recently, and up to 10 in past years. Meanwhile, Kesten told Axios prospective board members who need approval from their employers to join are now hesitant to be associated with the museum.
Still, Kesten remains hopeful. “We will be stronger and better than we were before. One way or another, we will be here,” he told Axios.
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