ACLU Demands LGBT Website Access For TN Students

KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE - The ACLU is threatening the Knox County, Tennessee, school system with a lawsuit if it does not meet their web demands.
The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding that the school system unblock "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" websites by April 29, 2009, or face a lawsuit. The ACLU claims the filtering software employed by Knox County -- which is provided by Education Networks of America -- blocks students from viewing nonsexual websites that host content they consider protected free speech.
According to an ACLU press release, the default settings on the ENA software block LGBT websites such as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN); and Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The latter is the largest pro-homosexual lobbying group in the U.S.
Knox County schools are engaging in "illegal viewpoint discrimination," claims the ACLU, by denying students access to "political and educational information about LGBT issues" on school computers. In the ACLU's eyes, that constitutes "censorship" and denies students information for research purposes.
Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, says the ACLU is throwing its weight around again. "This new threat by the ACLU against these schools in Tennessee is simply an attempt to push the homosexual agenda down the throats of every American. This in fact is blatant bullyism," says the attorney.
According to Staver, the school does not have to comply with the ACLU's demands. Many of the websites that are blocked do indeed have inappropriate content, he says.
"They're not just talking about general issues with respect to homosexuality," he explains. "They're pushing a very sexualized agenda in their advertisement and in their content. The school is doing the right thing not to allow these websites to be made available to students in school."
The Christian attorney argues that homosexual activists want to use the schools as "an incubator to sexualize the next generation."
Meanwhile, the ACLU says it is "eager" to find out if any other Tennessee school districts that use the ENA filtering software are "violating students' Constitutional rights by restricting access to LGBT sites."
from One News Now