Even after convincing school districts in the states of Tennessee and Indiana to remove filters blocking access to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender websites, the American Civil Liberties Union is not ready to let go of its case. The civil rights group initially brought the lawsuit against two Tennessee districts on behalf of a group of high school students and a librarian, as OhMyGov! reported last month.

The web filters, which have blocked students from visiting sites such as the Lesbian Gay Straight Education Network and Marriage Equality USA, but allowed them to view those promoting “ex-gay” ministries and “reparative therapy,” were discovered by a 17-year-old looking for LGBT scholarships. The filters came with software sold to the school systems by Educational Network of America Services, LLC, although it was the choice of the school system to implement the “LGBT” filter. Sites to which students were still allowed access included online auctions and computer game websites.

The ACLU filed the complaint on May 19, and its success was just announced last week. David Peirce, president and CEO of ENA Services, told eSchool News that his company had just adjusted the software that triggered the lawsuit.

"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. Shelton was one of the plaintiffs.

Despite changes, the ACLU said no one has personally contacted the organization to explain the change or assure them it would be permanent.

"We're not going to drop the suit yet," said Tricia Herzfeld, staff attorney with the ACLU of Tennessee, in an interview with eSchool News. "We need assurances from both districts that this blocking won't start up again a week from now, a month from now, et cetera."

The school systems were also slow to respond back in April, when the ACLU sent them a letter giving them until April 29 to report back with a plan to restore access to the sites. The plaintiff didn’t hear anything back until May 6.

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