Politics & Government
ACLU: LGBT Sites in Complaint Not Pornography
The national ACLU organization issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, following a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund to Gwinnett Schools that criticizes ACLU's campaign against LGBT website filtering.
(Editor's Note: This article was originally published Aug. 2, 2011.)
The New York-based American Civil Liberites Union (ACLU) is responding to an August 1 letter written by the Alliance Defense Fund, which calls the organization's stance on website fliters in Gwinnett County Public Schools to be a "scare tactic" disguised as good will.
See below the statement from Joshua Block, staff attorney for the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project."
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“Anyone can understand the difference between pornography and websites like the It Gets Better Project or PFLAG, which provide critical information and support for LGBT students,” Block said.
“The websites identified by ADF should have been placed in Blue Coat’s categories for adult or mature content, which are designed to block all sexual content regardless of whether it is straight or LGBT.
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"The fact that these websites have been inadvertently placed in the non-sexual “LGBT” category only underscores the problems that can occur when a company tries to create a special category for issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity in the first place.
The ultimate solution to the problem is for schools to use viewpoint-neutral filtering software that does not select websites out for special treatment simply because they support LGBT people.”
The ACLU is still waiting to hear from the Gwinnett County Public Schools district.
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