ACLU Sues To Stop Tennessee Schools From Censoring Gay Educational Web Sites; Filtering Software Allows Anti-Gay Sites
NASHVILLE, TN – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee sued two Tennessee school districts in federal court today, charging the schools are unconstitutionally blocking students from accessing online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Knox County Schools and as many as 105 other school districts in Tennessee use Internet filtering software to block Web sites containing pro-LGBT speech, but not Web sites touting so-called “reparative therapy” and “ex-gay” ministries. The “LGBT” filter is not used to block sites containing pornography, which are filtered under a different category, but it does block the sites of many well-known LGBT organizations including Parents, Families, And Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
“Allowing access to Web sites that present one side of an issue while blocking sites that present the other side is illegal viewpoint discrimination,” said Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group and lead attorney on the case. “This discriminatory censorship does nothing to make students safe from material that may actually be harmful, but only hurts them by making it impossible to access important educational material.”
The school districts block the Internet filtering category designated “LGBT,” which includes sites that “provide information regarding, support, promote, or cater to one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” They do not, however, block sites that condemn homosexuality or promote “reparative therapy,” a practice purporting to “cure” LGBT people that is denounced as dangerous and harmful to young people by such groups as the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association.
The ACLU filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and Knox County Schools on behalf of two high school students in Nashville, one student in Knoxville and a high school librarian in Knoxville who is also the advisor of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).
“Students need to be able to access information about their legal rights or what to do if they’re being harassed at school,” said Keila Franks, a 17-year-old student at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and a plaintiff on the case. “It’s completely unfair for schools to keep students in the dark about such important issues and treat Web sites that just offer information like they’re something dirty.”
The lawsuit charges that blocking LGBT sites violates students’ First Amendment rights by only allowing access to sites that present an anti-gay point of view on the rights of LGBT persons on issues such as anti-gay harassment, marriage, employment discrimination and the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy while blocking access to sites that support LGBT rights. Further, the filtering hinders the ability of GSAs and their members to facilitate club activities and keeps students from accessing important information about scholarships for LGBT students or doing research for school-related assignments.
The ACLU first learned about the discriminatory filtering from Andrew Emitt, a Knoxville high school student who discovered the problem while trying to search for LGBT scholarships. Internet filtering software is mandated in public schools by Tennessee law, which requires schools to implement software to restrict information that is obscene or harmful to minors. However, the “LGBT” filter category does not include material which is sexually gratuitous and already included in the “pornography” filtering category.
“While schools may have an interest in using filters to block material that could be harmful to minors, blocking access to information about LGBT issues while allowing anti-gay information is unlawful and potentially dangerous,” said Tricia Herzfeld, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Tennessee. “There is no place for this kind of unconstitutional censorship in our public schools.”
In addition to Crump and Herzfeld, attorneys on the case are Chris Hansen of the ACLU First Amendment Working Group and Christine Sun of the ACLU LGBT Project.
The plaintiffs are Nashville students Keila Franks and Emily Logan, Knoxville student Bryanna Shelton, and Karyn Storts-Brinks, a Knoxville high school librarian and faculty sponsor for her school’s GSA.
More information about the case, including the ACLU’s complaint and a video featuring one of the student plaintiffs, is available online at: www.aclu.org/lgbt/youth/39346res20090413.html.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/aclu-sues-to-…
Workers and Gay Rights Groups to Ban together to Fight for Marriage Equality and expose ‘Hyatt Hypocrisy’
Ceremonial Gay Marriage with Raymond and Byron, Featured in “13 Love Stories”
A press conference announcing the expansion of the ‘Hyatt Hypocrisy’ campaign to Long Beach Hyatt Hotel is set today in Long Beach, CA. Members of the coalition will participate in a ceremonial gay marriage ceremony, calling on Hyatt management with demands regarding marriage equality.
The Reverend Sunshine Daye, Namaste Science of Mind and Spirit Center/Grand Marshall Long Beach Gay Pride Parade; Tonia Reyes Uranga, Long Beach City Councilwoman; Mike Bonin, Co-Founder of Camp Courage, Courage Campaign; Raymond and Byron, married gay activists featured in “13 Love Stories;” and Kimberlee Woods, Exec. Director Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach are expected to attend.
LGBT rights activists, workers, and community leaders will join forces outside the Long Beach Hyatt hotel in support the ongoing fight for marriage equality. The Hyatt Hotel is owned and operated by the Hyatt Corporation, which also operates the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, owned by Doug Manchester. Manchester donated $125,000 to help put California’s Proposition 8 on the ballot last November. The Manchester Grand Hyatt has been at the forefront of the battle over same-sex marriage since leaders of San Diego’s LGBT community called a boycott of the hotel in July.
This event is co-sponsored by the Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs & a Healthy Community, San Diego Equality Campaign, Courage Campaign, Equal Roots, Pride at Work and Equality California.
The coalition is not calling for a boycott of the Hyatt Hotel, but pledges to hold the Hyatt Long Beach and its owner and operator, The Hyatt Corporation, accountable for their relationship to Manchester. With this press conference and delegation, labor and gay rights activists will expand the Hyatt Hypocrisy campaign, which is in full swing in San Diego, to Hyatt’s Long Beach Hotel.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/workers-and-g…
UTAH GOP Rep wants to kill gay marriaeg in DC
Update: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) rejected Chaffetz’s blustering. “For this to be overturned, it’d have to pass both houses and be signed by the president, and that’s highly unlikely,” he said.
Yesterday, the DC Council overwhelmingly approved a bill recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states, by a vote of 12 to 1. It is the latest victory for LGBT rights, coming just days after the state legislatures in New Hampshire and Maine approved gay marriage, after Vermont became the fourth state to make gay marriage legal last month.
Marriage equality in the nation’s capitol, however, is too much for freshman Rep. John Chaffetz (R-UT, above), who is refusing to let the issue “go softly into the night“:
“Some things are worth fighting for, and this is one of them,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), the ranking Republican on a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that oversees the District. “It’s not something I can let go softly into the night. … I recognize the Democrats are in the majority, but I represent the majority of Americans on this issue.”
The City Desk noted Chaffetz’s Twitter explanation for why he would use Congress to intervene: “Why am I involved? Congress is set up to oversee the affairs of D.C. I am one of the Members of the relevant committee.”
Chaffetz’s disrespect for the District’s citizens by no means a new development. Opposing a bill to give DC residents a voting member in the House, Chaffetz insisted “the best” proposal was simply to give the city to Maryland:
The best alternative is retrocession of residential areas of D.C. back to Maryland, as was done with Arlington, Va. Under this option, D.C. residents would receive not only a vote in the House and two in the Senate, but a state legislature, a governor and many other benefits.
In March, Chaffetz railed, “Keep government limited, keep it out of our way, and empower the American people.” Apparently, he meant to add, “so long as they’re not gay.”
- See Chaffetz leads fight against DC gay marriage law
Deseret News - - Chaffetz: Federal Funding Means Congress Can Nix DC Gay Marriage Bill Washington City Paper
- Chaffetz: Gay Marriage Rights In DC Are ‘Not Something I Can Let … Think Progress
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/utah-gop-rep-…
Harvey Milk Day Legislation Under Attack!
The same group, motivated by fear and hate, who brought us Prop 8 is at it again—with a new target.
This time they are turning up the heat, urging their members to contact the governor asking him to veto EQCA’s legislation–authored by Senator Mark Leno–to honor my uncle, Harvey Milk.
The governor needs to see a groundswell of support for legislation to honor one of our movement’s greatest heroes, Harvey Milk. Please sign the petition today!
This morning, EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors will be joined by Senator Leno and Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of the movie “Milk,” to give testimony before the Senate Education Committee urging the passage of this legislation that pays tribute to the sacrifices Harvey made to advance equality.
Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill saying that my uncle was a figure of only local significance. Since then, millions have seen how important my uncle was to the LGBT rights movement – and how he inspired so many to fight for what is right.
Please sign the petition to Governor Schwarzenegger and urge him to sign the Harvey Milk Day bill. You can even add in a special message about what Harvey Milk means to you.
The deadline is fast approaching. All the petitions will be delivered to the Governor on May 22, my uncle’s birthday.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/harvey-milk-d…
Pastors lobby Congress to support LGBT bills
(Washington) More than 300 gay-positive clergy were on Capitol Hill today, urging Congress to support LGBT rights bills.
It is the second time the lobbying effort known as Clergy Call has been held on Capitol Hill – the first event was held two years ago. Both have been sponsored by the Human …
Military officials: Gay ban supercedes rights of Iowans to serve in Guard, marry
Military officials say the Iowa National Guard cannot recognize the same-sex marriages of its members, and must continue to adhere to the federal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy prohibiting openly gay servicemembers. “Iowans serving honorably in the military should not have to choose between the protections of marriage and their dedication to serving our country,” said Carolyn Jenison, executive director of LGBT-rights group One Iowa. The Des Moines Register (Iowa) * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/military-offi…
Greek court annuls gay marriages
(Athens) A court Tuesday annulled the only two same-sex marriages performed in Greece.
In June, Mayor Tasos Aliferis, on the island of Rhodes, performed the weddings after LGBT rights group OLKE said it had found a loophole in a 26-year-old update of the Greek civil marriage law that refers only to …
Marriage debate divides Maine
Maine legislature takes up same-sex marriage today; state evenly divided on LGBT rights.
Marriage debate divides Maine
Maine legislature takes up same-sex marriage today; state evenly divided on LGBT rights.
Marriage debate divides Maine
Maine legislature takes up same-sex marriage today; state evenly divided on LGBT rights.
