Schools remove filters on gay, lesbian websites

Prince William County Public Schools has removed filters that block access to certain websites with content relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender is­sues.

In April, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia sent a letter to the school system asking officials to remove the software blocking the sites.

The ACLU learned of the blocking of LGBT sites through its “Don’t Filter Me” initiative, which shows students how to re­port that their school is filtering content.

At the time, ACLU spokesman Kent Willis said that it was clear that Prince William schools were blocking the LGBT sites while allowing anti-LGBT sites to be viewed.

The action violated the stu­dents’ First Amendment rights, Willis said.

School systems aren’t allowed to discriminate based on “view­point” and schools are legally bound to provide students with “viewpoint neutral” access to the Internet, Willis said.

In a Prince William Public Schools news release, Keith Imon, the associate superintendent for communications and technology services, said that the school system was able to remove the filters and still keep students safe from other content. 

“Internet filtering is difficult, sometimes imprecise, and constantly evolving. It is nearly impossible to find the perfect balance between the protection of students, freedom of speech, and equal access,” Imon said in the release. “However, the decision to discontinue the use of the LGBT filter is within this balance.” 

Prince William schools use the Internet filtering software made by Blue Coat to filter out content that is not allowed on school computers. 

The school system is working with the company to block “offensive” content and “streamline the LGBT category by bringing to their attention sites found through the manual screening process that may need to be filtered through other categories,” the release stated.
 
ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis spoke about the school system’s decision to remove the filters. 

“We commend Prince William school officials for removing this discriminatory LGBT filter, which serves no purpose but to deprive students of important educational materials and resources,” Willis said in an ACLU news release. “Of course, if the software company the school used had not provided them with the tools to specifically censor LGBT websites this might never have occurred.” 

Senior reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.