june 7 . 2002 »
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turning librarians into thought police armed with
clumsy blocking programs,” said A nn Beeson, lit
igation director of the A CLU ’s Technology and
Liberty Program, which challenged the law along
with the ACLU of Pennsylvania and other rights
groups. “The court found that these programs are
inherently flawed and will inevitably prevent
library patrons all over the country from accessing
valuable speech online.”
A t issue is the C hild ren s Internet Protec
tion A ct, a federal law passed in December
2000 th at ties crucial funding to the m andated
use of blocking programs on terminals used by
both adults and minors in public libraries. It
defines such measures as “a specific technology
that blocks or filters Internet access” such as
the commercially available software N 2H 2,
Cyber Patrol, W ebsense and Smartfilter.
Based on nine days of testimony from librar
ians, patrons (including Emma Rood, a lesbian
teen from Portland) and online experts, the
court supported its ruling with more than 100
pages of detailed facts, which established that Civil rights leaders join U .S. Sen. G ordon Smith (center) for the “ Rally Against H ate” May 28
the programs wrongly restricted access to “at
television or anyplace else. W hat’s important is
least tens of thousands” of sites, including the
S mith R allies A g ain st H ate
finding effective solutions to this problem.”
Knights of Columbus, a Christian orphanage in
.S. Sen. Gordon Smity, R-Ore., led a “Rally
As Cooper testified in March, such methods
Honduras and several political candidates. Gin-
Against Hate” May 28 to emphasize the
include establishing Internet policies that pro
nie Cooper, director of the M ultnomah County
critical importance of hate crimes legislation.
hibit access to illegal content; using handouts,
Library, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, welcomed
T h e Local Law Enforcem ent A ct— which
online guides, training sessions and recommend
the court’s recognition that librarians are well
ed Web pages; providing terminals with option he introduced last year w ith U .S. Sen.
versed in using their professional skills to help
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.— broadens federal
al rather than mandatory blocking software; and
patrons find what they want online and avoid
installing wraparound privacy screens to main hate crimes statutes to include sexual o rien ta
Internet sites they don’t wish to see.
tion, gender and disability. T h e legislation
tain a n o n th reaten in g environm ent. Any
“The court’s decision affirms the importance
has passed the Senate twice and likely will
appeal of the decision will go directly to the
of local control in determining library Internet
pass again this year with strong bipartisan
U.S. Supreme Court, which is required to hear
policies,” she said. "No one wants children to be
support.
challenges to the law.
exposed to pornography on the Internet, on
U
S m ith said it is becom ing increasingly
easy to co n v in ce his G O P colleagues to favor
pro-gay legislation. “To some who may feel
{hat, as a m atter of faith or religion, they
c a n ’t support this, I say, ‘As a m atter of your
faith and religion you ought to support this,
because th ere is n o family value or religious
value served by h a tre d .’ ”
Just Out asked Sm ith about the conservative
Oregon Family Council, which recently distrib
uted thousands of fliers indicating he opposes
gay rights. He denied making the statement and
said his office has contacted the organization to
correct the error.
“We don’t know why that is the case,”
Sm ith said. “We never filled out any question
naire to that effect and have registered our con
cern with them that they would be representing
a position that I supposedly have taken that I
have not taken and, in fact, hold very much the
opposite view."
V a n c o u v e r P roject
D ir e c t o r A il in g
lyn Zephyr, executive director of the Sexual
Minority Services Project in Vancouver,
Wash., has gone on an extended leave of
absence because of ill health.
“This is not a perm anent closure of the proj
ect, but all services will be interrupted at this
time,” she wrote in an e-mail May 27. “I and
another volunteer will continue to monitor and
maintain the Rainbow Links hot line record
ings, which shall be finished shortly.”
Zephyr is looking for a volunteer to handle
Sexual M inority Leadership R oundtable busi-
L
Continued on Page 10
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