"Students 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," said Tricia Herzfeld, Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Tennessee. "This kind of censorship does nothing but hurt students, whether they're being harassed at school and want to know about their legal rights or are just trying to finish an assignment for a class."

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 ACLU notes that websites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called "reparative therapy" or "ex-gay" ministries - 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 - can still be easily accessed by students.

For a detailed report on the exgay movement, see

Calculated Compassion: How The Ex-Gay Movement Serves The Right's Attack on Democracy, by Surina Khan

A report from Political Research Associates the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and, Equal Partners in Faith

For those unfamiliar with the exgay movement and why this bit of software filtering bias is so additionally eggregious, here is the brief preface from the report, published ten years ago, but whose basic findings are as relevant today as they were then:

The growing prominence of the ex-gay movement is the result of a strategic shift within the Christian Right: the new packaging of an old message. The claim that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people can be "cured" has more to do with the Right's political objectives and its bitter opposition to equal rights than with genuine caring. This report examines how the Christian Right has adopted the ex-gay movement in response to increasing pressure to soften its homophobic rhetoric.

While a vast array of religious denominations and a growing majority of the public is increasingly supportive of equality and fair treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, the ex-gay movement is gaining media attention and increasing legitimacy by promoting a discredited therapeutic practice known as "reparative therapy" and by claiming to act in the name of religion. Reparative therapy has been repudiated by prominent psychological and psychiatric organizations. The religious principles promoted by the ex-gay movement are part of a fundamentalist Christian agenda that has caused concern and opposition from within virtually all mainstream communities of faith.

Our three organizations have come together to raise critical questions about the motivations, claims, and objectives of the ex-gay movement. We believe the public needs to see the truth behind the mask of compassion. The new softer face of the Christian Right merely hides the old, vicious homophobia. The ex-gay movement, like the Christian Right of which it is a part, is intolerant of anyone who does not conform to its ideals of family, marriage, moral values, and sexual orientation. It exploits and misuses the language of faith, presenting a face of Christian caring while simultaneously condemning gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people outright, and denying them their full humanity and equal rights. In attacking gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, the ex-gay movement, like its parent, the Christian Right, promotes an agenda for all Americans that is profoundly anti-democratic and exclusionary. We stand in opposition.

Rev. Meg Riley Co-Chair Steering Committee Equal Partners in Faith

Urvashi Vaid Director The Policy Institute National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Jean Hardisty Executive Director Political Research Associates

Meanwhile, Justin over at glaadBLOG calls for action:

Tennessee school officials need to hear from you today.
Below you'll find contact information for the school officials that the ACLU has sent their letter to. Please, reach out to them today:
Dr. James P. McIntyre, Jr.

Knox County Schools Superintendent
(865) 594-1620
knoxsuperintendent@k12tn.net

Dr. Jesse Register
Metro Nashville Public Schools, Director
(615) 259-INFO (4636), press 5 and ask to be transferred.
jesse.register@mnps.org
Dr. Lyle C. Ailshie
Tennessee Schools Cooperative
(423) 787-8014
mailto:ailshiel@gcschools.net

Change.org also has an online form that allows you to send a letter to Tennessee officials.

Crossposted from Talk to Action