2009 Film Contest Announced/ NYC Students Sound Off About Free Speech in School

On March 28, 2009, students from all over New York City gathered at the first annual Youth Voices Uncensored. This video, shot and edited by Kyle Graffam, captures highlights from the day as participants discussed the topic of this year’s 2009 YFEN Film Contest: Free Speech in School (Does it Exist?)

Apply online

Contentious Quilts, not for cuddling?

The quilts that grace the pages of Quilter’s Home’s March/April edition are probably not what your grandmother would have made. Their contemporary subject-matter and the direct approach of the quilting artists caused a stir with Jo-Ann Fabrics who refused to carry copies of this particular issue.  It seems, however, that the magazine itself was instrumental in creating the stir: “Shocking Quilts: We Show You the Controversial Patchwork” scrolls across the issue’s cover, which is covered in plastic-wrap reminiscent of Hustler.  We often hear about controversy over nude photography, political paintings or graphic sculptures, but quilts?  Apparently today’s quilt artists are a new and boundary-pushing generation – rather than flower patterns we have fabric penises swimming in a sea of Viagra, a piece called Who Would Jesus Bomb?, and a newborn peering out from his mother’s vagina.  Except, quilts have historically been a medium for social and political expression; for example, the Drunkard’s Path quilt from the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, quilts made in support of women’s suffrage, and even bright and flowery patterns illustrate the work and life of women, both slaves and housekeepers, on farms.

Knoxville to Students: No LGBT Websites

In February 2009, NCAC and the ACLU of Tennessee jointly responded to a situation at a Knoxville, TN high school where internet filters are currently blocking constitutional protected material on the web, specifically sites that provide political and educational content around LGBT issues. The censorship was discovered by Andrew Emmitt, a senior at Central High School:

When I found out about this web filtering software, I wasn’t looking for anything sexual or inappropriate – I was looking for information about scholarships for LGBT students, and I couldn’t get to it because of this software. Our schools shouldn’t be keeping students in the dark about LGBT organizations and resources.

According to information obtained by the ACLU through the Open Records Act, the filtering software, provided by Educational Networks of America through a contract with the Tennessee Schools Cooperative, is in place in 80% of public schools in the state. But while ENA’s filtering product (designed by Blue Coat) includes the option to block LGBT sites, a legal counsel at the company says the decision to do so belongs entirely to the school districts using the software.

In a letter sent to Knox County School Superintendent James McIntyre on February 10, 2009, we stressed that,  in addition to clear First Amendment violations,

the filtering scheme further engages in impermissible viewpoint discrimination by blocking sites that express acceptance and tolerance towards LGBT individuals but allowing sites that condemn homosexuality and sites that urge LGBT persons to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through so-called ‘reparative therapy’.

Contested speech on college campuses

Student Press: No Socialists Allowed

At least that seems to be the case at Central Connecticut State University where student journalist, Marissa Blaszko, was apparently  fired last month from the school paper because of her connections to the student club, Youth for Socialist Action, and her anti-war politics. In response to the decision, Blaszko released a statement saying:

They informed me that they were aware I had been involved in recent demonstrations against the Israeli invasion of Gaza and told me that my involvement was a “conflict of interest.” I was allowed to leave the office without being fired, but it was made clear that my activity outside of the paper was being watched…. Nothing else was said about the incident until Tuesday, March 10, when the same two editors called me into the office once more. The conversation was almost identical to the first—the difference, however, was that this time I was asked outright to choose between my involvement with the Youth for Socialist Action or The Recorder…My personal beliefs were not at issue, they claimed, but that I had acted on those beliefs.

An appeal to the college’s Media Board is underway and a petition on Blaszko’s behalf, signed by students and faculty alike, is circulating. View and Sign the petition here.

#amazonfail explained in a flowchart

See it in full effect.

Inspired by Anatomy of the #AmazonFAIL protest.

Vermont Looks to Decriminalize Teen Sexting

The Vermont Legislature hopes to tackle the problem of teens facing criminal charges for sexting.

The Senate has endorsed a proposal for a bill that would carve out a sexting exception in child pornography laws.   Under this proposed law, people between the ages of 13 and 18 would not face child pornography charges for sending graphic images to one another, as long as the exchange was consensual.  The carve-out requires that the images only be shared between two people, and not passed along to other parties.

The bill moves to the state House this week, and will be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee.

According to Senator Richard Sears (D-Bennington), in an interview with the Burlington Free Press, the proposed law

“would continue to punish sexting committed through force, coercion or other pressures, and prohibitions against voyeurism still would apply.  Also, passing along images to others would remain a crime.”

This bill represents a step in the right direction.  Teenagers sharing nude images of themselves, as a form of electronic flirting, should not face child pornography charges.  These laws were designed to condemn the adult exploitation of minors, and not what defense attorney Leroy Yoder describes as

“essentially adolescent exploring but using technology.”

Yoder represents a Vermont 18-years-old, who currently faces sexual assault charges for allegedly convincing two teenage girls to send him explicit photos and videos.  The teenager, if convicted, faces a possible life sentence.

Amazon removes GLBT books from search, some books back in online store

The twittersphere has been, well, a-twitter (sorry!) about a story this weekend of Amazon pulling media with GLBT content from it’s sales ranking. Search #amazonfail to have a look.

The excuse? The books were “adult” materials. However, it became quickly clear that it was GLBT content that was defining “adultness,” rather than the potential age-appropriateness of the content.

The impact? These books were removed from Amazon’s search engine.

Dan Savage weighs in:

It’s a freaking high-tech book burning. Mein Kampf and American Psycho not considered “adult” by Amazon, Heather Has Two Mommies—a children’s book—is? And no anti-gay titles affected, so first search on ‘homosexual’ brings up AFA book on preventing your kid from being gay when he grows up!

The line. Amazon has responded that the removal of these books was a “glitch.” But apparently an Amazon representative has said that it wasn’t a technical error. From Feministing:

Basically he said that amazon has been experimenting with the way they dole out content specifically so that people who are searching Harry Potter or whatever won’t run into links to products that might be offensive….It’s super fucked up, but apparently he’s saying that Amazon is a bully when it comes to stuff like this and it’s all about sales for them and it’s not about censorship. …  this is mandated from their bosses, who essentially want to be Walmart.

Our take: This exposes the private censorship that is going on and probably to a larger extent than we are usually aware of. This censorship is, of course, private corporate decisions, and there’s no law being violated here. But there is a danger to recognize when one store which has such broad reach decides to tighten content restrictions.

The fight over Texas science policy continues…

On Friday, March 26, the Texas Board of Education struck down a bill that required evolution be taught with consideration of the “strengths and weaknesses” of the theory. The new bill, however, is not a striking victory for advocates of depolicized, science-based education. According to the NCSE:

…the revised biology standard (7B) reflects two discredited creationist ideas — that “sudden appearance” and “stasis” in the fossil record somehow disprove evolution. The new standard directs students to “analyze and evaluate the sufficiency of scientific explanations concerning any data of sudden appearance, stasis and the sequential nature of groups in the fossil records.” Other new standards include language such as “is thought to” or “proposed transitional fossils” to make evolutionary concepts seem more tentative.

According to the New York Times,

The debate over new curriculum requirements … stands to influence educational standards nationwide. Once every decade, major textbook publishers revise their offerings to match the requirements newly set forth by Texas, which is one of their largest bulk customers.

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that in response to the Board’s decision, some Texas lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce the Board’s influence.  According to the article,

The most far-reaching proposals would strip the Texas board of its authority to set curricula and approve textbooks. Depending on the bill, that power would be transferred to the state education agency, a legislative board or the commissioner of education. …

Over the years, the Texas board has been aggressive about editing submitted textbooks before granting approval. Publishers have been asked to delete — among other things — favorable references to Islam, discussions of global warming, and illustrations of breast and testicular self-exams…

Student Speech “Muzzled”

Marking the anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, the First Amendment Center has issued their annual “Muzzle Awards”, a dubious honor given to “outstanding” Americans in violation of First Amendment principals. The story published on FAC’s website notes that more than half of this year’s recipients are community college or K-12 administrators.

While this bit of news is no surprise to those who follow student censorship cases, it is none-the-less disappointing. All the more so considering that this year marks the 40^th anniversary of the landmark student speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of students who had been suspended for protesting the Vietnam War. The court’s ruling stated that students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” But while Tinker continues to resonate with student advocates and First Amendment scholars,  the Muzzle Award’s list of recipients indicates that not all school administrators have taken the idea of student free speech to heart.

The courts are not always supportive either, as noted earlier this year by Student Press Law Center executive director, Frank LoMonte, “The 40-year history of judicial decisions since Tinker is largely a story of retrenchment. Court after court has found ways to chip away at the First Amendment protection afforded to student speech….”

Related:

NCAC’s 2009 Youth Free Expression Network Film Contest:
Free Speech in School- Does it Exist?

SPLC’s Then and Now: 40 years ago, Tinker and Eckhardt families solidified First Amendment rights for all students on school grounds

More challenged books: couple petitions West Bend, WI, public library

In another case of challenged books from public libraries, a Wisconsin couple has petitioned for the reclassifying of several Young Adult books to Adult.  Ginny Maziarka and her husband feel that books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Geography Club, and Deal With It! a whole new approach to your body, brain and life as a gURL should be moved to a restricted adult area, smattered with warning labels, and flagged for parental approval before check-out. She calls them “explicitly sexual” and “pornographic,” yet the West Bend Community Memorial Library Director Michael Tyree objects, explaining that “these books are from reputable publishers.”

As we have argued before, where parents may object to their children reading certain material, it is not their responsibility to reclassify material, or impose new policies or content restrictions on libraries.

The petition has also demanded that the library balance its shelves with “affirming traditional heterosexual perspectives” that are faith-based or written by “ex-gay” authors. This may sound good, but there is a faulty logic behind it. Libraries choose their literature based on reviews from reputable sources and on their literary or scientific value.  They should not be shuffling books between sections simply because community members object to the content, nor are they obliged to include an opposing viewpoint for every book they hold. Otherwise someone may demand that Diaries of Anne Frank were balanced out by the work of a Holocaust denier. Not to speak that “traditional heterosexual perspectives” are more than well represented both in libraries and in the culture at large.