- Target:
- New York City Council
- Region:
- United States of America
I'm sure a lot of you have seen a specific image plastered on the hallways recently. It's a picture of one of our school computers. On the monitor, it reads: Content Blocked By NYC DOE. Gay or Lesbian or Bisexual interest.
This is what our school's proxy software, not run by the staff mind you, produced while I was researching LGBT+ history for an academic project. The article was about how transgender people are being erased from many gay rights movements. I could not access because, well, it was too gay, apparently. Here's a short list of websites that aren't blocked by our school's websense: genderidentitywatch.com, a website devoted to outing people, including many of my close friends, as transgender, therefore putting them in unnecessary danger. An online article entitled: How Homosexuals Are Marketing Their Perversions and Evil.
The website bugbrennan.com, which features essays on the evils of transsexuality, and even features a 'meme' section mocking the transgender community. I feel that if the websense is not changed, then keeping it will act as an extension of the views held by the people in charge of our student's security and well being. It has recently come to my attention that some faculty members knew about this far before I did, yet chose not to share this information.
Things need to change. Remaining impartial because an issue does not affect you is damaging.
We, the undersigned, call on the New York City Council and other interested parties, to require the NYCDOE and Websense to lift any content blocks that limit our access to legitimate educational resources.
"Gay or Lesbian or Bisexual Interest" should not be blocked.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The UnBlock access to our Civil Liberties petition to New York City Council was written by Institute for Collaborative Education and is in the category Civil Rights at GoPetition.