The Department of State has awarded a $20,600 grant to the Ecuadorian American Center to "promote diversity and inclusion" in Ecuador. The list of activities registered are predominately those of drag queen performances.
The grant was approved on August 23, and will finance a series of actions between September 30, 2022 and August 31, 2023. As seen on USASpending.gov, there will be "3 workshops," "12 drag theater performances" and a "2-minute documentary" in the name of diversity and inclusion.
23,020 for "girl's empowerment."
At the same time, the NLC obtained another US$23,020 to finance a girl's empowerment program. It provides assistance to fifteen underprivileged students and six months of classes for fifteen journalists to learn English.
The CEN is an institution with the objective, as stated on its website, of "promoting, by the most effective means, a cultural exchange between Ecuador and the United States." To this end, it promotes "the dissemination of both cultures through the teaching of the English language, the organization and programming of cultural events at no cost to the public, and, in general, any act that promotes intellectual and artistic knowledge about both countries."
Grants since 2009
Since 2009, this institution has received more than US$2 million for various activities, including the construction of an auditorium and, especially, educational programs. The 2022 Inclusion and Diversity Grant is the first grant given to promote gender ideology.
Gender ideology, "national interest" for Biden
The program under which money is made available for drag queen performances falls under, the objective of which, published on the website is "to support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, to promote national interests and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign audiences and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world."
Based on these objectives, we can infer that gender ideology is in the "national interest" of the Biden Administration.
