A California state agency has awarded close to $200,000 to Syryn Records, an organization that offers internships solely to women and “gender expansive” youth, seemingly violating equal opportunity and anti-discrimination statutes, according to the Daily Wire.
Syryn Records is an offshoot of Girls Rock SB, a non-profit that has garnered more than $183,000 from the California Arts Council. According to a graphic on Syryn Records’ social media, eligibility for a company role requires candidates to “self-identify as a girl, BIPOC, or gender expansive.”
The internship program’s application specifies that “Applicants must self-identify as female or gender-expansive,” and further emphasizes, “BIPOC humans are strongly encouraged to apply.”
“We’ve made it our mission to bring girls’, women’s, and non-binary and gender-expansive youth’s creative dreams to life through inclusivity and diversity,” the record label explained.
Syryn Records also maintains identical criteria for hiring paid staff, as the organization declares, “We need not 1, not 2, but 5 FEMALE AND GENDER-EXPANSIVE STAFF to help us run our next 15-week SYRYN RECORDS cohort.” They further comment, “In case you haven’t heard, women and gender-expansive people are grossly underrepresented in the music industry.”
A recent grant awarded to Girls Rock SB amounting to $38,000 for “creative youth development” recognizes the non-profit’s emphasis on “gender-expansive youth.” The project’s description highlights that “The mission of Girls Rock SB (GRSB) is to empower girls, women, and gender-expansive youth through music education, the creative arts, community, and positive mentorship.”
“Our programs work to change the status quo of artistic spaces—especially the music industry, which lacks representation from female and gender-expansive voices, specifically from marginalized communities like women of color and LGBTQ+ people,” reads the description. “Since launching in 2012, GRSB has provided immersive arts programs to more than 11,000 female-identifying and non-binary youth, approximately roughly ages 5–23, with a focus on marginalized and historically under-resourced communities.”
David Bernstein, a faculty member at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law, informed The Daily Wire that programs discriminating based on race breach Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.” Moreover, state funding for such programs amounts to further breaches of the law. “State funding may (a) create obligations for the state to cut off that funding; and (b) may impose additional legal non-discrimination obligations on the entity,” Bernstein explained.
As the official arts agency of California, the California Arts Council must ensure that the entities it finances adhere to anti-discrimination laws, unlike Syryn Records. Taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund discriminatory practices. This case highlights the need for an ongoing review of funding criteria to ensure that all initiatives supported by public funds not only adhere to the law, but refrain from advancing a radical, progressive agenda. Exposing these instances to taxpaying Californians and encouraging them to make their voices heard by voting for candidates who will spend their money wisely this upcoming election cycle is a crucial place to start.
