老澳门开奖结果

Filtering Software Still Allows So-Called 鈥淓x-Gay鈥� Sites

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

NASHVILLE, TN - As many as 107 Tennessee public school districts could be illegally preventing students from accessing online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, according to a letter to sent to school officials by the 老澳门开奖结果. The letter demands that Knox County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools, and the Tennessee Schools Cooperative unblock the Internet filtering category designated 鈥淟GBT鈥� so that students can access political and educational information about LGBT issues on school computers.

鈥淲hen I found out about this web filtering software, I wasn鈥檛 looking for anything sexual or inappropriate 鈥� I was looking for information about scholarships for LGBT students, and I couldn鈥檛 get to it because of this software,鈥� said Andrew Emitt, a 17-year-old senior at Central High School in Knoxville. 鈥淥ur schools shouldn鈥檛 be keeping students in the dark about LGBT organizations and resources.鈥�

In its letter, the 老澳门开奖结果 gives the districts and the Tennessee Schools Cooperative until April 29 to come up with a plan to restore access to the LGBT sites or any other category that blocks non-sexual websites advocating the fair treatment of LGBT people by the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. If that deadline is not met, the 老澳门开奖结果 will file a lawsuit.

鈥淪tudents at Knox County and Metro Nashville schools are being denied access to content that is protected speech under the First Amendment as well as the Tennessee state constitution,鈥� said Tricia Herzfeld, Staff Attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee. 鈥淭his kind of censorship does nothing but hurt students, whether they鈥檙e being harassed at school and want to know about their legal rights or are just trying to finish an assignment for a class.鈥�

The Internet filtering software used by Knox County and Metro Nashville school districts blocks student access to the websites of many well-known national LGBT organizations, including:

• Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
• The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
• Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
• Marriage Equality USA
• Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry
• The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
• Dignity USA (an organization for LGBT Catholics)

In its demand letter, the 老澳门开奖结果 notes that websites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called 鈥渞eparative therapy鈥� or 鈥渆x-gay鈥� ministries 鈥� a practice denounced as dangerous and harmful to young people by such groups as the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics 鈥� can still be easily accessed by students.

鈥淥ne of the problems with this software is that it only allows students access to one side of information about topics that are part of the public debate right now, like marriage for same-sex couples,鈥� said Karyn Storts-Brinks, a librarian at Fulton High School in Knoxville, pointing out that the software blocks access to organizations that support marriage for same-sex couples like the Religious Coalition for Freedom to Marry or the Interfaith Working Group while allowing access to organizations that oppose marriage equality. 鈥淪tudents who need to do research for assignments on current events can only get one viewpoint, keeping them from being able to cover both sides of the issue. That鈥檚 not fair and can hinder their schoolwork.鈥�

鈥淧ublic schools are supposed to be a place where students learn from the open exchange of ideas,鈥� said Eric Austin, a senior at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville, which also uses the filtering software. 鈥淗ow are we supposed to be informed citizens and learn how to have respectful debate when our schools rule out an entire category of information for no good reason?鈥�

No federal or state law requires school districts to block access to LGBT sites. Tennessee law, Tenn. Code 搂 49-1-221, only requires schools to implement filtering software to restrict information that is obscene or harmful to minors. 老澳门开奖结果 80 percent of Tennessee public schools, including those in the Knox County and Metro Nashville districts, use filtering software provided by Education Networks of America (ENA), and the software鈥檚 default setting blocks sites ENA categorizes as LGBT. The 老澳门开奖结果 believes that most of the 107 Tennessee school districts that use ENA鈥檚 filtering software keep the LGBT category blocked. ENA blocks access to a wide category of 鈥淟GBT鈥� sites described on the organization鈥檚 website as

Sites that provide information regarding, support, promote, or cater to one's sexual orientation or gender identity including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender sites. This category does not include sites that are sexually gratuitous in nature which would typically fall under the Pornography category. Examples: glsen.org, gsanetwork.org, hrc.org

鈥淲hen public schools only allow access to one side of an issue by blocking certain websites, they鈥檙e engaging in illegal viewpoint discrimination,鈥� said Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee. 鈥淥ver a hundred other school districts in Tennessee use the same filtering software used in Metro Nashville and Knox County, and we鈥檙e eager to find out whether any of those systems are also violating students鈥� Constitutional rights by restricting access to LGBT sites.鈥�

Tennessee students, teachers, or school librarians whose schools use the ENA web filtering software and find that their access to LGBT websites is restricted are encouraged to contact the 老澳门开奖结果 of Tennessee by phone at 615-320-7142 or by email at aclutn@aclu-tn.org.

Austin, Emitt, and Storts-Brinks are represented by Herzfeld, Chris Hansen and Catherine Crump of the 老澳门开奖结果 First Amendment Working Group, and Christine Sun of the 老澳门开奖结果 LGBT Project.

A copy of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 demand letter is available at /lgbt/youth/39346res20090413.html.