A Little Censorship with Your Public Education

Published April 15, 2009 @ 05:09PM PT

computers

Turns out Amazon and the public school system in Nashville, Tennessee have a thing or two in common -- namely, both were caught this week censoring LGBT materials. Amazon has (apparently) worked their kinks out, but the Nashville Public School system scandal is just getting started.

According to the Nashville Scene, "Roughly 80 percent of Tennessee school districts, including Metro Nashville, use filtering software to bar students from viewing gay education and gay rights websites." What "scandalous" Web sites are Tennessee Public Schools barring their students from accessing?

Sites like the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to name a few.

What kind of sites are students allowed to access, however? Sites that champion "rehabilitation" from homosexuality, and ex-gay ministry sites.

Nashville School System's internet provider, Education Networks of America, is denying any involvement in filtering content for the students, and is pointing the blame at local school districts, which decide on what content is appropriate for students and what should be banned.

This type of blatant censorship and discrimination is such an affront to students. The Human Rights Campaign has numerous resources on its Web site dedicated for young people struggling with coming out, questions about their sexual orientation, and youth activism. That type of lifeline could be critical for students. Instead, they hit a road block when trying to access the site.

But they can access a psychologically damning organization like Americans for Truth, which preaches conversion from homosexuality, something that has been roundly condemned by any mental health professional with a clue.

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Comments (2)

Although Education Networks of America has claimed it hasn't interfered with censorship, then certainly the school districts are to blame. It's incorrect for school districts to censor LGBT information and LGBT rights websites, because that's a shame. With the Nashville school district unreasonably censoring LGBT rights, it's also unreasonable that the school district allow intolerant websites. Finally, the school board has abused its power by pursuing intolerance.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 04/15/2009 @ 05:43PM PT
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::shakes head::
At least my school district allowed access to hrc.org.
Websites like 365gay.com...probably not. It kind of sounds like a porn site anyway.
In any case, I hope parents and students will confront the school district and get this ridiculous policy changed.

Posted by Courtney C............ on 04/16/2009 @ 05:27AM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.