The National Coalition Against Censorship supports Rumford Public Library’s display and freedom to choose how best to serve their community.
NCAC Supports Louisiana Library Hosting Drag Queen Story Time | UPDATE: Success!
Controversy arose over the announcement that the library would host the family-focused program, which features reading, singing and crafts presided over by drag queens.
Fun Home Under Fire in New Jersey
Fun Home is under attack again, this time in a New Jersey High School.
Texas Library Evaluates Policy After Criticism of LGBT-Themed Display
A library in Temple, Texas was criticized for highlighting LGBT-themed books during June 2017’s celebration of Pride Month and equal space was demanded for anti-LGBT material.
California School Faces Down Complaint Over ‘The Family Book’
A parent in Etiwanda, California is complaining that a celebrated children’s book about tolerance and diversity is not “appropriate” for a kindergarten classroom.
Threat to Sue Over Transgender Book Reading is Based on Flawed Constitutional Analysis
A conservative legal group’s threat to sue a school over the planned reading of a book about a transgender child is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the First Amendment applies to public schools.
Religious Group Threatens to Sue School Over Transgender Book Discussion
A conservative law firm threatened to sue a Wisconsin school over a reading and discussion of the picture book I Am Jazz. The district canceled the November 23 reading.
15 in ’15: Celebrating This Year’s Free Speech Heroes
From defending challenged library books to promoting campus free speech to identifying nudity double standards on social media, here are a few of the folks we consider Free Speech Heroes in 2015.
Texas Library Battle Over LGBT Books
Residents of one Texas town want two LGBT books removed from the children’s section of a public library. That is unconstitutional. But a plan to move the books to the adult section is similarly problematic.
Evolution Wins: Cherokee Trail High Allows Production to Go Forward Uncensored
NCAC congratulates the students of Cherokee Trail High for speaking up and speaking out against censorship, and is gratified that the administration chose to do the right thing by respecting its students’ free expression rights.
Defying Intolerance, Children’s Book About Dress-Wearing Boy Kept in Classroom
Last December, a guidance counselor in rural Pennsylvania read a children’s book about a dress-wearing boy to a kindergarten class without advance notice to the parents, upsetting some residents in the district.
“Two Boys Kissing” could be purged from Fauquier High School library
Update: A review committee unanimously decided to keep the book, though an appeal is possible. NCAC’s Kids’ Right to Read Project has written the Fauquier County Public Schools superintendent and board with regard to a challenge to David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing in the Fauquier High School library, because of objections to the same-sex themes […]
Letter Urges S.C. Legislature to Restore Funding to Universities With LGBT Curricula
In a joint letter with the ACLU-SC and eight other partner organizations, NCAC defended academic freedom and criticized attempts by the South Carolina State Legislature to punitively defund state universities for assigning LGBT-themed books.
Truly Free Speech Protects Kids From Bullying
This week, Stephanie Mencimer at MotherJones.com reported on horrifying cases of harassment and suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin schools of Minnesota, in Rep. Michelle Bachman’s district. The article, published within days of a suit filed against the district by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has further mobilized advocates calling for expanded anti-bullying policies and legislation. The […]
Clough Stands By Decision To Pull “A Fire In My Belly” From Hide/Seek
Despite concerns the Smithsonian’s Flashpoints and Faultlines forum would be a bland showcase designed to obscure the institution’s commitments to First Amendment principles instead of examining them, last night’s opening panels included direct criticism from the dais of Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough’s decision to censor David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire In My Belly” from the Hide/Seek […]
It’s not about the children: “Revolutionary Voices” pulled from public library
We were gratified to learn of a kind mention last week from librarian Lizzy Burns in her thoughtful blog A CHAIR, A FIREPLACE & A TEA COZY concerning one example of the kind of work the NCAC does every day. You can find the original post here. The latest wrinkle in the story: Revolutionary Voices […]
Knoxville to Students: No LGBT Websites
6/23/2009 updated 11/5/2010 — In April 2009, students in Knoxville, Tennessee successfully challenged the Internet filtering policy in place at their school which was blocking access to LGBT websites. After the ACLU filed a lawsuit on the students’ behalf, the school districts in question consented to change the filter settings that were unconstitutionally blocking the […]
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 […]
If you don’t see something, say something.
Recently NCAC was contacted by a high school student who was having difficulty accessing particular LGBT websites from his school. Upon further investigation this student uncovered the likely culprit- an internet filtering policy that includes the blocking of “Sites that provide information, promote, or cater to gays, lesbians, swingers, other sexual orientations or practices, or […]
