Saturday, June 6, 2009

ACLU told Tennessee Schools a thing or Two


Not so long ago, two Tennessee public school districts, Knox County Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools blocked students from accessing LGBT organizations and other LGBT-positive websites, but allowed full access to any anti-gay sites.

The ACLU got involved, quickly turned that mess around and now, they have access!
Dozens of Tennessee schools have restored access to online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, just over two weeks after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against two Tennessee school districts for unconstitutionally blocking student access to such sites. The company that provides Internet filtering software to as many as 107 Tennessee schools has adjusted the software to allow access to a variety of educational and political LGBT Web sites that were blocked before the lawsuit was filed.

"All we ever wanted was to be able to get information out about LGBT issues, like what our legal rights are or what scholarships are available for LGBT students, so I'm really happy that the schools are finally making our Web access fair and balanced," said Bryanna Shelton, a 16-year-old student at Fulton High School in Knoxville and a plaintiff in the case. "These Web sites were never something dirty or inappropriate in any way and shouldn't ever have been treated like they were."

It was a shame that this was happening, but sadly, it's Tennessee. It's my home state and I know they're not the most LGBT friendly place. With that said, I'm proud to hear this news. I wish for more changes like.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.