The Elsie May Goodwin Art Center, run by the Stockton Art League, rejected a sculpture by one of its members—Vincent Mazo—because the piece was too anatomically explicit. The gallery has no policy excluding nudes, but, according to Aleen Gall, the gallery manager, the nudes normally exhibited are female and show no genitals. Interesting, I thought genitals were a part of [...]
Orchard Artworks, a Bryn Athyn, PA art gallery, removed six works by Linda Griffith from an exhibit that opened September 21, 2001. The work was considered "too political" for the gallery. The exhibit, "Uncertain Future: Earth Found, Used and Abused," focused on environment issues. Griffith's photographs committed the sin of bringing issues of environment abuse too close to home. The [...]
On Thursday, September 20, 2001, the National Coalition Against Censorship and five other organizations filed an amici curae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union. Ashcroft v. ACLU is a challenge to the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) passed by Congress in 1998. Struck down by lower courts, COPA criminalizes [...]
Resources NCAC Letter Submitted to the Albany Times Union About The Vagina Monologues Ad September 6, 2001 Letters To the Editor The Albany Times Union To the Editor: I understand that the Times Union has decided not to run advertisements about an upcoming production of "The Vagina Monologues," a play that has packed theaters in New York City and [...]
The 11th Circuit found that Alice Randall's novel, re-telling Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind from the slaves' point of view, is a parody, an important element of Randall's "fair use" defense to copyright infringement claims.
Here in New York, there were a few sources of comfort in the weeks after September 11: victims, firefighters, police and other rescue workers heroically risked, and some lost, their lives for others. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (even though he's not so hot on the First Amendment) provided notable leadership to New Yorkers coping with unprecedented disaster.
At their August 2, 2001 meeting, the Cultural Affairs Commission reaffirmed their support for Susan Narduli's work at LAX. They decided there was no reason to continue reassessing the work. NCAC congratulates the Commission for taking a principled position!
The Board of Directors of the Brookings Arts Council in South Dakota has reconsidered its decision to exclude Joy Crane's "Chastity Belt Circa 2001" from 25th Annual Juried Art Exhibit. Ms. Crane was recently invited to re-submit her work.
Fort Wayne, Indiana On July 20, 2001, U.S. District Judge William C. Lee ruled that a student has the right to direct a controversial play in a state university theater and that the plaintiffs failed to show how the production would violate the establishment clause of the Constitution, which requires a separation of church and state. The play, Terrence McNally's [...]
On July 3, 2001, District Judge James K. Singleton ordered Anchorage, Alaska, to reinstall a gay pride exhibit at Z.J. Loussac Library after ruling that the city's library policy was too vague. The lawsuit arose after the city removed a gay pride display from Loussac Library on June 5, 2001. The Alaska Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the city violated [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship, the nation's leading anti-censorship organization, today applauded the just-released government report "The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Behavior." The Report concludes that comprehensive sexuality education should begin early in life, should include information on contraception and safer-sex techniques, and should convey tolerance toward gay and lesbian people. Two weeks [...]
A San Antonio arts organization won a major victory for public funding of the arts when a district court judge ruled that city officials violated the First Amendment by denying the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center a $62,000 grant in 1997, contrary to the recommendations of its own arts council (Censorship News 70, 67). Esperanza'a nonprofit cultural arts and education [...]
NCAC and other free speech advocates have jointly launched a public education campaign to inform legislators, educators, policy-makers and others about the threat to First Amendment principles from publicly-funded "abstinence-only" sex education.
The Alaska Civil Liberties Union (AkCLU) filed a lawsuit today in Anchorage Superior Court alleging that Mayor George Wuerch's removal of a PrideFest exhibit from the Loussac Library display area constitutes a blatant violation of the right to free speech and the rights of the public to receive information, guaranteed in the Alaska Constitution and the First Amendment to the [...]
11:00 AM (EST) Hilton Garden Inn, 815 14th Street, Washington, DC 20005 Thirty-five prominent national organizations will release a Joint Statement Against Abstinence-Only Education on June 12, 2001, at a national news conference in Washington, DC. Spearheaded by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) the groups are launching a public education campaign to oppose the Congressional re-authorization of federal [...]
Political scandals aside, Washington lawmakers are shy about sex—at least when it comes to education and public policy. So shy, as a matter of fact, that in 1996 they sneaked into law, with no discussion, a half-billion dollars of state and federal money for school districts that teach that the only acceptable sexual behavior outside marriage is abstinence.
From the Senate Office Buildings to exhibition spaces on both coasts, nudes are becoming taboo. In Lake Alfred, Florida you can find a replica of Michelangelo's David wearing a loincloth; in Santa Cruz, California, watercolors of nudes were unpalatable to a community arts center director; in Spokane, Washington, a mural of stylized human figures was painted over.
Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind in 1936. Now, Alice Randall, an African-American author and songwriter, has written a book called The Wind Done Gone, which re-tells the story through the eyes of slaves.
Student Production of mice and men cancelled Dacula, Georgia May 30, 2001 On May 3, 2001 a student production of Of Mice and Men was to open at Dacula High School in Dacula, Georgia, until Principal Donald Nutt abruptly canceled it on May 1st. The reported reason for the action by Nutt was because the student actors involved [...]
A computer-edited photo collage by Los Angeles artist Alma López triggered a heated controversy in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A welcome decision from the federal Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit in Kincaid v. Gibson restored First Amendment rights to Kentucky State University and other college students.
In Utah, a full-time official enforces the state's obscenity laws, and stores rent expurgated-only videos.
We recently received a request for help responding to a proposed policy to ban "racially offensive" books from the high school curriculum. As readers of CN know, Huck Finn is a perennial target for censorship because the word "nigger" repeatedly appears in it.
No one has to watch a program they do not like, or purchase music they find offensive. Each of us is free to comment on anything we find objectionable by expressing our views publicly or to producers of entertainment products
A group of prominent free speech organizations are encouraging the Museum of New Mexico Board of Regents to uphold principles of artistic freedom as they prepare to discuss the fate of a controversial work of art in the Museum of International Folk Art.
Joint Statement of Free Expression and Arts Organizations Opposing Mayor Giuliani's "Decency" Subcommittee The undersigned organizations oppose the formation of a "decency standards" subcommittee determining restrictions as to what art could be displayed in publicly funded institutions in New York City. Deaf to the outcry of protest, which followed his promise to form such a committee, on Tuesday, April 3, [...]
Today, a number of prominent free speech groups are expressing concern over student reaction on several campuses to a controversial ad that recently ran in college newspapers across the country.
Santa Fe Community College Gainesville, FL March 21, 2001 Under pressure from the Catholic League and the local community, four works in the exhibition "Pat Payne: A look at Violence in Religious and Sexual Imagery" (February 8 - March 29, 2002) at the Santa Fe Community College Gallery were moved to a professor's office. Pat Payne's work blends sexual bondage [...]
The Benham Gallery Seattle, WA March 21, 2001 This February, exhibiting photographer Patricia Ridenour took her photographs down from the walls of the Benham Gallery when, at the opening, she found her work removed from the front gallery to the back room. The work in question (Ridenour's sixth show in 12 years at Benham, and decidedly not the first to [...]
Rudy Giuliani may not be the nation's most visible opponent of First Amendment rights, but not for want of trying. Fresh from losing a bout with the Brooklyn Museum of Art over Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary in the Sensation exhibit, he's now proposing a "decency" commission in response to another image he considers "anti-Catholic" in a show of work by black photographers at the same museum.
Today, numerous organizations concerned with free speech and academic freedom are urging lawmakers and the Penn State University Administration to respect students' rights in response to a student event—"Sex Faire"—that was held in early February on the campus of Penn State. The event, funded by Womyn's Concerns, an organization of students at PSU, was organized to educate students about [...]
NCAC has joined other free expression organizations to protest Congress' latest effort to censor the Internet. The new law, the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires public schools and libraries that use federal funds to provide Internet services to block images that are "harmful to minors." Adult access to such material would be restricted too, although adults may request [...]
Our annual event honoring free speech defenders.
We will miss Robert Cormier who died in early November—a luminary among authors of young adult fiction, whose brilliant writing holds continuing appeal for teenagers and adults.
"Although requiring parental permission stops short of a total ban, we believe that this restriction denies many children the opportunity to encounter some extraordinary books that they may otherwise never know"
Censors and Schools: The Battle Over Children's Literature A panel discussion on censorship of children's literature 6 - 8 pm Thursday, September 28, 2000 Freedom Forum 580 Madison Avenue between 56th & 57th Streets New York City Popular children's books—from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter—are challenged every day and in communities all over the country, not simply to express different [...]
Embarrassed by an illustration of a vagina in a high school science textbook, school board members in Lynchburg, Virginia refused to approve the book unless the picture was covered or cut out. Some anatomical parts, apparently, are best unseen. Read more: » Freedom Forum: Trying to shut out the light by banning books
Chairman McCain, Senator Hollings, and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to have the opportunity to testify before you today. I am the CEO and co-owner of Artemis Records a year old independently owned record company. Our current roster includes Rickie Lee Jones, Steve Earle, Warren Zevon, and the Baha Men. During the nineteen-nineties I was the President of [...]
Leaves turn, temperatures fall, and hot air rises from the campaign trail, heralding "the silly season." Now is the time when political candidates hawk simple solutions for complex problems.