Tennessee Schools Filtering Pro-Gay Sites; ACLU Threatens Suit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 16, 2009 - 10:16am.

San Francisco - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has threatened to sue public schools in Tennessee for using Internet filtering software to block websites that discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, while allowing visits to sites that actively advocate against homosexuality, Wired.com reported.

Education Networks of America, which provides the software, told Wired that the schools determine which sites they wish to block, and the software simply enforces those wishes.

"The filtering scheme engages in impermissible viewpoint discrimination by blocking sites that express acceptance and tolerance towards LGBT individuals but permitting sites that condemn homosexuality and sites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called 'reparation therapy,'" reads the ACLU's letter to Knox County Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools.