As Promised ACLU Sues Missouri School District Over LGBT Web Filtering

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Camdenton Missouri R-III School District, Ozarks First reporting that the suit claims the district's web filters on school computers are unconstitutionally blocking access to hundreds of LGBT websites. The ACLU claims the filter "does not block access to comparable anti-LGBT websites that discuss the same topics." It says LGBT topics tend to be grouped into a sexuality category, which are then instantly blocked. On its own website Monday, the ACLU said it warned the district back in May as part of its "Don't Filter Me" project with a letter. It claims it was "brushed off." It has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Jefferson City on behalf of the groups PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian and Gays), the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Campus Pride, and Dignity USA. The Camdenton R-III superintendent, Tim Hadfield, told Lake News Online that his district is not using that type of software. He tells the paper that his district technology administration's system does not specifically filter sites promoting alternative lifestyles. He went on to say the district only blocks sites that are inappropriate, and will continue to do so. The district has more than 4,200 students with nine school facilities on three campuses. There are more than 300 teachers and 600 other employees in the district. Monday's lawsuit comes just days after the Missouri Research and Education Network announced it would stop using a certain feature in its software that filtered non-sexual gay and lesbian websites in schools. There is more information on Monday's lawsuit here.