While not the first time the Federal Government has spent taxpayer dollars on the absurd, it truly strains belief when it is spent on a theater production about lesbian gun-control advocates and a "feminist, postmodern improvisational dance" show performed by a drag queen. Yet those are just a few of the far-flung projects now being subsidized by taxpayers under National Endowment of the Arts as its 2016 grants are doled out. 

If it seems too surreal to be true, remember that this is Obama's America. The Washington Free Beacon reports on the details of these productions and the dollar amounts they will cost taxpayers:  

The agency announced its first round of grants for fiscal year 2016 last week. Projects include “sustainable” housing for struggling artists and a mural by an artist who painted portraits for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns.

Taxpayers were billed $10,000 to support the “world premiere” of Cocked, a play by Sarah Gubbins.

“The play follows the relationship between a Caucasian woman from rural Iowa and her African-American girlfriend, who are staunchly opposed to gun ownership,” the description for the project reads. “When a family member arrives unexpectedly to stay in their Chicago condominium, their position corrodes as new discoveries surface and the lines between safety and protection are blurred.” [...] 

Part of a $30,000 grant is going to the ODC Theater in San Francisco for a mini-series entitled “Gender in Transition” by the drag queen Monique Jenkinson.

Jenkinson’s alter ego is “Fauxnique,” who was “born out of the scene at Trannyshack.”

“Jenkinson emerged out of a feminist, postmodern, improvisational dance and choreographic lineage at Bennington College, but grew toward a tradition of radical queer performance that uses glamour, excess, and drag to entertain, transcend and horrify,” according to her website. A clip from a past show can be viewed here.

In addition to plays, the WFB notes that "struggling artists in San Francisco" will also receive government-subsidized housing through another federal grant: $35,000 for "Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities for San Francisco Artists."

And there's more. Also on the federally funded roster is a play titled "#therevolution" (yes, complete with the hashtag), which received $20,000 to "offer a portrait of a revolution that is rife with vision, solidarity, and passion yet searches for practical, actionable solutions for a new world order."

Meanwhile another play to the tune of $30,000 taxpayer dollars is "set against the backdrop of the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the play follows a racially diverse group of Harvard intellectuals who interact personally and professionally for several years, each confronting issues of racial bias and stereotyping."

In addition to other projects, $20,000 has been allocated to "The Watershed and When the Wolves Came In," a play about "race, gender, and identity," according to the WFP. The list goes on:

Other similar projects included $10,000 for a July 2016 festival for LGBT singing groups who will appear in a “flash mob” in Denver; $10,000 for an LGBT film festival in San Francisco; and $55,000 for the Feminist Press at the City University of New York to digitize classic LGBT titles.

A theater company in Detroit received $20,000 for a “community storytelling program” using puppets to “explore themes of identity, individuality, community, and commonality.”

The Human Rights Campaign and an open mic group in D.C. received $20,000 for their series“Out/Spoken: Stories about Queer Culture in America.”

Several “re-imaginings” of Shakespeare received funding, including $40,000 for an all-male version of The Taming of the Shrew that intends to explore modern gender and sexuality issues.

But wait, there's more. A $30,000 grant was also allocated to a multicultural theater production that explores "questions of faith and struggles with addiction through its portrayal of a contemporary and diverse group of family and friends who are described as atheist, Jewish, Buddhist, gay, straight, Deaf and hearing, African American, and Iranian." 

Also on the roster is a $15,000 grant for a "multimedia performance" dubbed "WOMYN" that addresses "culturally-specific ideas of beauty, healing, and self-identity," according to WFB. 

It goes without saying that projects covering topics like climate change and immigration also abound. 

The Boulder County Arts Alliance received $30,000 to “support One Action Creative Community Conversation on Immigration.” Part of the funding will go towards a mural by the Colorado-based artist Rafael Lopez, who made official posters for President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

A series of plays in Los Angeles about food stamps is costing $10,000, while the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C., received $25,000.

Deferred Action, a play based on the president’s executive action to grant work permits to young illegal aliens, received $40,000. The funding is also going towards immigration education and outreach activities in Dallas.

Minneapolis will display a series of climate change-themed public art installations, which cost $20,000. An art installation made out of solar panels for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati will cost $30,000.

A play "inspired in part by the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown" was awarded some $30,000 and "an opera about two gay men working for the CIA in the 1950s who are forced to hide their sexuality is costing $35,000."

In total, taxpayers are footing a $620,000 bill to subsidize these left-wing social justice productions, according to the Free Beacon.