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.
Related Stories:
[+] Tennessee school system sued for blocking LGBT educational sites
[+] DNA: the new frontier in the civil liberties battle
[+] Clearwater, Florida combats constitutional rights and fish
[+] Maryland activists classified as terrorists by state police
[+] Streaker or Sex Offender? Laws Don't Always Differentiate
[+] New technology lets cops check identity of suspect instantly