Prince William schools lift filter on gay websites

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The Associated Press
© May 27, 2011

WOODBRIDGE

The Prince William County school system has removed a filter that blocked school computers from accessing information about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia sent a letter in April asking that the filter be removed. The filter blocked content from such organizations as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the anti-bullying initiative It Gets Better Project.

On Thursday, the school system announced it has removing the filter while keeping other software in place to screen out sexually explicit websites.

Associate Superintendent Keith Imon says it's nearly impossible to find the perfect balance between protecting students and providing for free speech and access to information.

The ACLU says it's not aware of any other northern Virginia school system with a gay filter.

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Guilt by association

Submitted by truthseeker on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 3:51 pm.

Author Talese would be banned, as his name is "Gay". Literature would be hard to come by, "Our Hearts were Young and Gay" would be banned. Even the "Enola Gay" would be suspect. No one wants to send their kids to a school where the information is doled out by homophobic authorities.

The Prince William County Skool System should do what the .....

Submitted by TR on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 2:15 pm.

.... Christian news website ONE NEWS NOW did. They setup a search and replace filter on their site to "adjust" news accounts and articles to their liking, but still provide the news.

Who can forget when US Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay became "Tyson Homosexual" in the news story posted on their site.

Or mimic the GOP legislative route in Tennessee and ban the term "Gay" from skools. Their focus on JOBS JOBS JOBS is lazer like.

Always entertaining.

Bigotry against gays

Submitted by Chris33 on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 1:25 pm.

Bigotry against gays continues. Hopefully, one day, this madness will end.

And It was not that long ago . . . .

Submitted by Archie on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 12:59 pm.

Not too long ago, everyone could have a gay old time, and it had nothing to do with sex!

Yabba

Submitted by Craig Paskewic on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 1:19 pm.

dabba do!

America's Children

Submitted by NO JONES on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 11:23 am.

The seedcorn that groups, organizations, and business of all kinds are competing for their attention with their ability to influence and manipulate by any means possible.

What is education

Submitted by Concerned Patriot on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 10:49 am.

So, what filters determine if educational or not? This is the old debate about censorship....

I am for leaving this up to the local governmental bodies. The parents in the school district need to determine the appropriate levels. If they do not like it then they need to go to the school board. If you are not in the school district -- who cares. It is up to the local people to determine how their children are educated. If the School District refuses to comply with the wishes of the majority of parents then it is time to replace the school board. If select parents (not a majority) disagree then it is up to them to parent their children.

I am all for reducing government to the lowest level possible. We can start with education.

No argument here...

Submitted by Craig Paskewic on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 1:15 pm.

Here's a link to regarding the public school system in New Orleans.

http://www.coweninstitute.com/ar-blog/whats-driving-the-improvements-were-seeing-five-years-after-katrina/

"Identifying improvements is, of course, easy; determining what has driven these improvements is a far more difficult task. After Katrina there were a number of changes to the system, all of which could have impacted student achievement for better or worse. One of the largest of these is, of course, the massive influx of additional funding. Other key changes are that charter schools came to comprise the majority of the system, city-wide school choice was implemented, and a veteran teacher force was largely supplanted by a younger, less-experienced corps".

So...

Submitted by davidh36291 on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 9:20 am.

So kids can't access sites with straight people having sex but it's OK if they're gay? How is the filter is going to decide what is informational and what is not?

So...

Submitted by winsliad on Fri, 05/27/2011 at 10:19 am.

Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? Read the story. "...while keeping other software in place to screen out sexually explicit websites". Do you think all gay matters include sex?

Also check out the websites they mention. I think it should be required reading for all. A lot of education goes a long way.