Intellectual Freedom News 6/24/2022
Highlights
Censorship
- Cumberland County clarifies library policy amid calls over storytime event featuring drag queen | Sentinel (PA)
- Officials, advocates offer differing versions after Proud Boys disrupt Pride Storytime event | WQHR (NC)
- Books still hot button topic at LASD board meet, spending and security questioned | Gettysburg Times (PA)
- Drag story hour hosts, under attack, dig in their heels | ABC News
- After weeks of heated debate, a drag queen read a book to children at Ketchikan’s public library for the first time | KTOO (AK)
- Proposal seeks to cut Ketchikan library funds over storytime event hosted by drag queen | Anchorage Daily News (AK)
- Drag Queen Story Time – Legal issues | Mitch Seaver, City Attorney (AK)
- Minnesota police group criticizes use of book at Edina school | Hometown Source (MN)
- Independence removes book with a non-binary character from elementary school libraries | KCUR (MO)
- Hide the Pride:’ National protest campaign behind disappearance of Columbia library Pride display | State (SC)
- ‘Gender Queer’: How Milken ‘Marginalized a marginalized voice’ | Milken Roar (CA)
- ‘We must push it back’: LGBTQ activists denounce hate after San Lorenzo drag queen library incident | Mercury News (CA)
- Standards-based grading, challenge books discussed at Nampa School Board meeting | KTVB (ID)
- Teachers fear Juneteenth school lessons amid critical race theory clampdown | Newsweek
- Drag queen skips ‘story time’ in Berkeley due to safety concerns | NBC Bay Area (CA)
- Several books at center of district policy located at county libraries: Books are focused on sex, gender | Oconomowoc Enterprise (WI)
- Walker Co. mother addresses school board over ‘vulgar’ books | WDEF (GA)
- ‘Culture of kindness’: Forest Hills school board proposes resolution banning anti-racism | Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
- After book removal, library policy up for adoption by Roanoke County School Board | Roanoke Times (VA)
- Wisconsin school district rejects book about Japanese internment | Wisconsin Examiner
- When a ‘diverse’ book ban goes awry | The Bulwark
- Portsmouth Public Library Board hears public comments on controversial pride display | WSAZ (OH)
- What you should know about Frisco ISD changing two policies regarding library book objections | Frisco Enterprise (TX)
- Gorham educators defend controversial posters, books dealing with sexuality | Portland Press Herald (ME)
- Llano county hires attorney in library civil suit | Daily Trib (TX)
- New York library reverses removal of Pride displays from children’s sections following outrage | ABC News
- Council Rock School Board okays books despite some pushback | Bucks County Herald (PA)
- School board to keep book | Cody Enterprise (WY)
- Lafayette community, library leaders debate ban of book displays that highlight diversity | Daily Advertiser (LA)
- WI School District Throws Out Book About U.S. Japanese Internment Camps | Patch (WI)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Senator Warren introduces bill to ban the sale of location and health data | JD Supra
- The world’s biggest surveillance company you’ve never heard of | MIT Technology Review
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion | Associated Press
- The U.S. Department of Education releases proposed changes to Title IX regulations, invites public comment | U.S. Department of Education
- The Supreme Court has just eroded First Amendment law | Washington Post
- Court invalidates censorship clause in MNPS former director Shawn Joseph’s termination contract | WTVF (TN)
- Lawyers say ‘defective’ Virginia obscenity claims should be tossed | Publishers Weekly
- Appeals court upholds Arkansas’ Israel boycott pledge law | KARK (AR)
- Laws targeting free speech about abortion would put journalists in the line of fire | Prism
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Student voices: Protect student press freedoms in private, independent schools | Seattle Times
- Georgetown University report on offensive tweet by law school administrator raises concerns for free expression | PEN America
- AAUP censures Linfield University for blatant academic freedom violations | FIRE
Social Media
- Florida’s fight with social media giants is likely heading to the U.S. Supreme Court | WFSU
- South Carolina councilperson blocks constituent on social media | National Coalition Against Censorship
- ‘The point was not to be censored’: Trumps social media platform makes heavy-handed moderation choices, alienating his base | Daily Dot
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- While the deliberate lies that led to the January 6 insurrection are exposed, misinformation runs riot on social media | Coda
- YouTube pulls Jan. 6 committee post, citing election disinformation | Washington Post
- Data misuse and disinformation: Technology and the 2022 elections | Brookings
Copyright
- Victory! Court rules that DMCA does not override First Amendment’s anonymous speech protections | EFF
International News
- Ukraine to restrict Russian books, music in latest cultural break from Moscow | CNBC
- How China wants to censor online comments | MIT Technology Review
- Blinken’s China speech sparks 25,000 word rebuttal, media censoring | Newsweek
- China’s political surveillance system keeps growing | Diplomat
Around the Web
- Book bans are on the rise, but students are fighting back | CNET
- Drag queens are not the ones sexualizing drag story hour | Washington Post
- Threat of GOP-led book bans looms over ’22 elections | Up North News
- Some lawmakers hope to crack down on drag shows watched by children | WBEZ
- Anti-LGBTQ incidents and bills are weighing on the queer community. Consultants and activists share meaningful ways employers can help workers. | Business Insider
- Secret Moms for Liberty audio captures threatening rhetoric targeting a school librarian | Arkansas Times
- As terms like ‘SEL’ draw fire, organizations supporting schools sharpen their message | Education Week
- Sunday reading: When the stealth slate wins the school board | Indy Week
- 10-year-old creates free library offering LGBTQ books to fight book bans | LGBTQ Nation
- Illinois librarians brace for book banning efforts to ‘get a lot worse’ as challenges grow | KPVI
- Hillsborough County School Board candidate defends book bans and CRT while lacking evidence | Creative Loafing Tampa (FL)
- Too LGBTQ? State Library Commissioners fret over new logo’s color scheme. | Montana Free Press
- Paramount won’t censor content from other eras | No Film School
- Be gay, read books: Aesop’s free queer library is back | Dazed Digital
- Nixa students: Censorship of books fosters ignorance | Springfield News-Leader (MO)
- Judy Blume documentary to shed light on author’s youth in NJ | New Jersey Monthly
- Nonbinary author has ‘most banned’ book in US | Bay Area Reporter
- After racist videos circulate at a Roseville high school, parents call for honest conversation about the N-word | Cap Radio (CA)
ALA News
- A Call to Action on Climate Change for Libraries
- The ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition to take place in Washington, D.C., June 23–28
- Freedom to Read Foundation to Host Virtual Symposium “Where Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice Meet: A Call to Action”
- Tuliao Swims Again to Support Spectrum
- ALA Announces 2022 Spectrum Doctoral Fellows – Catalysts for Change
eLearning
Publishing
Awards & Grants
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