Monthly Archives: December 2014

Northwest Press Defies Apple Censorship of LGBT Content

By |2020-01-03T14:58:03-05:00December 23rd, 2014|Blog|

With the recent rejection of the collected edition of the comic series Fearful Hunter from the Apple store, it looks like comic publisher Northwest Press has become another victim of Apple’s vague content policies. As Apple has become a major digital platform for comics, there has been ongoing controversy surrounding what Apple perceives as “appropriate” content for its digital shelves — specifically when it comes to the depiction of homosexuality. From the confusing initial non-release of Image’s Saga #12 to the outright removal of Sex Criminals from the iOS app, Apple has a right to establish their own content policies to reject any content that they determine to be inappropriate, but the enforcement of those policies has been inconsistent at best. Northwest Press — a publisher best known for their large and varied collection of queer comics, many of which have received critical acclaim and awards — is no stranger, though, to Apple’s policies or their inconsistency when it comes to when and how they enforce them. In the early days of Northwest Press’ entry into the digital marketplace, Apple rejected their illustrated adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest for its depictions of male nudity. As Matt […]

NCAC Joins Worldwide Secret Cinema Screenings to Protest Censorship of The Interview

By |2020-01-05T23:18:47-05:00December 22nd, 2014|Blog|

On Sunday, Dec 21st, NCAC joined Secret Cinema and Spectrum to screen Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator in protest against the cancellation of The Interview. As NCAC noted in a statement regarding the cancellation, threats of violence have become increasingly successful in suppressing cultural expression. Before Sony Pictures Entertainment withdrew its film, The Interview, from all outlets of circulation and distribution, we saw London’s [...]

Cancellation of The Interview: There is an Urgent Need to Affirm Our Commitment to Free Speech Amid Threats of Violence

By |2019-03-07T22:47:50-05:00December 19th, 2014|Incidents|

NCAC issued the following statement and joined forces with the Secret Cinema Society to protest the cancellation of The Interview: There is an Urgent Need to Affirm Our Commitment to Free Speech Amid ​Threats of Violence In an age of anonymous communications and instant publicity, threats of violence have become increasingly successful in suppressing cultural expression. Just this past year, [...]

Neil Gaiman on Censorship and the Perception of Comics as a “Gutter Medium”

By |2020-01-03T14:58:01-05:00December 19th, 2014|Blog|

In the upcoming Winter 2014 issue of Index on Censorship magazine, political cartoonist Martin Rowson interviewed long-time free speech advocate and CBLDF Advisory Board Co-Chair Neil Gaiman on issues of censorship, comics as a gutter medium, and how graphic novels and literature are still thriving by shocking the mainstream today. With entertaining stories of their own personal experiences with censorship, death threats, and general public outrage over their works, Gaiman and Rowson reassure us that comics are definitely still alive and well and are continuing to impact the societies in which they are consumed. As Gaiman points out in a podcast of the interview, “As long as people are getting upset, a medium is not dead.” In the interview, Gaiman vocally celebrates the mainstream perception that comics are a “gutter medium.” Unlike other artistic forms, comics’ blended visual nature warrants a unique outlier position between high literature and low-brow mediums that inspires people from all walks of life to think, engage in discussion on particular issues, and converse about the world around them. “Comics get power from being a gutter medium,” Gaiman says, and it is this power which has allowed comics to become both a serious point of social […]

Censorship is Great Publicity for Fun Home and Many More

By |2020-01-06T00:07:36-05:00December 18th, 2014|Blog|

Six months after South Carolina lawmakers finally reached a sort-of-compromise following a protracted debate over the use of LGBT-themed books in summer reading programs at state colleges, one Charleston-area writer looked back last week to reflect on a bright spot in the debacle. As so often happens with any challenge or ban, Charleston City Paper contributor Leah Rhyne pointed out, legislators’ efforts against Fun Home and Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio almost certainly worked in the books’ favor as more South Carolinians opted to read them out of curiosity or solidarity. In a column at Lit Reactor, Rhyne admits that she herself was not familiar with Alison Bechdel before state legislators attempted to defund the College of Charleston’s summer reading program because Fun Home was the chosen book last year. Now, however, Rhyne owns a copy which is patiently waiting on her to-be-read shelf. Indeed, Rep. Garry Smith who sponsored the legislation likely won more than a few new readers for the book with his insistence that it “could be considered pornography.” Of course, Fun Home and Out Loud are far from the only banned or challenged books to experience this phenomenon. Rhyne pointed to an analysis of […]

Supplementation, Not Suppression: Officials in Gilbert, AZ Won’t Redact Pages from a Biology Textbook

By |2019-03-07T22:47:45-05:00December 17th, 2014|Blog|

In October, a few school board members in Gilbert, AZ attracted national attention when they voted 3-2 to yank two pages from an honors Biology textbook. Thankfully, redaction is off the table after the most recent board meeting.

NCAC Joins FIRE in Letter to University of Iowa Over Disturbing Censorship

By |2020-01-02T15:33:06-05:00December 16th, 2014|Incidents|

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) are urging University of Iowa president Sally Mason to issue a statement recognizing the First Amendment rights of Professor Serhat Tanyolacar and make clear that his artwork is fully protected under the First Amendment. The letter was issued in response to the forced removal from [...]

Private Censorship – Fighting Suppression of Speech by Non-Governmental Actors

By |2020-01-03T14:58:00-05:00December 16th, 2014|Blog|

Government censorship in the Internet age has been a consistent focal point for free speech advocates.  Recent examples of censorship by the American government can be egregious, including the curtailment of First Amendment rights through mass surveillance, overregulation of disfavored speech, criminal prosecution, and outright bans on books, movies, and websites.  However, the First Amendment...

Same State, Different District: NCAC Goes to Bat for Cam Post in Indian River, DE

By |2020-01-03T14:57:45-05:00December 12th, 2014|Incidents|

Update: KRRP wins again! Last night, the board President withdrew his appeal before it went to a vote, resulting in the return of the book to the shelves of Sussex Central High's library. Read more about the meeting here. Another day, another Cameron Post challenge. Just months after NCAC fought tirelessly against a challenge to emily m. danforth's lauded The Miseducation of Cameron Post in Cape Henlopen, DE, [...]

The Fault in Our Policies: NCAC Responds to Review of “Fault in Our Stars” Ban in Riverside Unified School District

By |2020-01-03T14:57:40-05:00December 8th, 2014|Incidents|

Update: Another victory for KRRP! Last night, the board voted 3-2 to reinstate the book to middle school libraries. Read more about the decision here. In October, CA's Riverside Unified School District raised some eyebrows when a review committee decided to yank John Green's acclaimed The Fault in Our Stars from the district's middle school libraries. The reason? Age-appropriateness; the committee, in a [...]

IRONY ALERT: Censor Claims “NCAC is Attempting to Censor People of Faith”

By |2020-01-03T14:57:43-05:00December 5th, 2014|Blog|

Indian River school board member, pastor, and would-be censor Shaun Fink and responded to the National Collation Against Censorship’s recently issued a letter about his demand for a censored health curriculum that would exclude discussions of homosexuality, HIV, STIs, and contraception in the most ironic way possible: He claims NCAC is trying to censor him. The letter to Superintendent Susan Bunting, which CBLDF signed alongside NCAC, the ACLU of Delaware, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, ABFFE, ALA-OIF, PEN America, and SCBWI, outlines the dangers of caving to Fink’s censorious demands: To deny students such information because of anyone’s religious or other personal belief-based objections would raise serious First Amendment concerns and, in turn, compromise our public education system and potentially expose students to unnecessary and significant health risks. During a committee meeting on Tuesday, December 2, Bunting presented the letter to Fink, who calmly responded that he thought it “ironic” that the NCAC, in fighting to prevent censorship of the curriculum based on personal, moral, or religious beliefs, was in turn “attempting to censor people of faith.” As Rachel Pacella of DelmarvaNow reports, Fink sees the letter as nothing more than a “scare letter” being used to intimidate the […]

Biology Textbook Too Factual, Violates Arizona Law?

By |2020-01-03T14:57:45-05:00December 5th, 2014|Blog|

In late October, the Gilbert Arizona Public School’s governing board voted to have two pages from a widely used honors biology textbook removed on the grounds that its discussion of contraception and common birth control methods violated Arizona law. The state law being cited is 15-115: Preference for childbirth and adoption; allowable presentation. Signed by Governor Jan Brewer two years ago, the law enumerates the ways that schools should teach and emphasize childbirth and adoption options over abortion and pregnancy prevention. As the law states: In view of the state’s strong interest in promoting childbirth and adoption over elective abortion, no school district or charter school in this state may allow any presentation during instructional time or furnish any materials to pupils as part of any instruction that does not give preference, encouragement and support to childbirth and adoption as preferred options to elective abortion. Since early January, members of the Gilbert school board and Superintendent Christina Kishimoto began receiving comments from groups, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, regarding the biology textbook, Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections 7th Edition. Their concern was that the book’s subsection “27.8 Contraception can prevent unwanted pregnancy” was in direct violation of Arizona law […]

The Damned Dozens: Art Censorship in 2014

By |2020-01-06T00:07:35-05:00December 4th, 2014|Blog|

Don’t hold your breath for nipple reveals or cock shows – while artistic representations of nudes remain a regular target of censorship, the most compelling and controversial artwork in 2014 came from artists challenging social norms and exposing cultural fissures. There was the occasional use of female anatomy or children as subjects, but what each painting, photo, or mural on [...]

NCAC to Indian River, DE: Don’t Censor Health Curriculum

By |2020-01-03T14:55:59-05:00December 1st, 2014|Incidents|

UPDATE: After receiving NCAC's letter, pastor and school board member Shaun Fink has struck back against NCAC. Contrary to his earlier public statements, Fink now claims that he never called for the exclusion of materials on LGBT content or STD, HIV, and pregnancy prevention. At December 2's health curriculum subcommittee meeting, he also characterized NCAC's letter as a form of intimidation for the [...]

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