Internet Parental Control Blocks the Word 'Gay' - Is this Justifiable?

Many parents and educators turn to internet controls to ensure their kids don't run into any harmful or inappropriate content. However, one security suite, CA Internet, has also blocked the word "gay," and from my point of view, I find that this is taking keyword blocking way too far.

Do you think blocking the word 'Gay' is justified in this case? Or, is this just another sign of homophobia in our society?

You can find the full article here.

Tags: CA, controls, internet, nextadvisor.com, parental, safety

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Permalink Reply by Amanda Kenuam on April 21, 2010 at 7:52am

That is shocking. I completely agree with you. It's sad enough that there is a lack of gay and lesbian role models in our textbooks, but to erase the history and culture of queer people from the information revolution is taking it a bit far. What message does that send to gay and lesbian kids... kids with queer parents or family members? It says that gay is a dirty word, profane, disgusting and in need of censorship.

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Permalink Reply by Kiwi Commons on April 21, 2010 at 8:23am

I wholeheartedly agree with you on this one. My disallowing a child to search for the word "gay," we are automatically telling them that that word has negative connotations to it.

Where do we draw the line when it comes to keyword blocking? Because at the end of the day, the unfortunate truth is that we cannot protect our kids from EVERYTHING on the Internet, but what we can do is block the necessary terms (for pornographic material, adware, etc.) and give them the knowledge of the risks that are out there and educate them on how to deal with said risks. Open dialogue is key.

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Permalink Reply by Jeffrey R Grace on April 25, 2010 at 11:23am

I work in a district that not only blocks most gay content, instead of saying that it is blocked for "adult content" or something, they actually say that "gay, lesbian, and bisexual interests are filtered" of course the line at the bottom then states that "all activity on this computer is being logged." If you were a suicidal teenager who was questioning your sexuality, what would this message do to you? Statistically, one-third of teen suicide attempts are by students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning. I think we are often times part of the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Nellie Makarova-Cross on May 28, 2010 at 10:51am

Dear Jeffrey,
Suicides are not due to a filtered content. Suicides are due to problems with their mates. You jump to conclusions.

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Permalink Reply by John J Caprice on April 25, 2010 at 12:02pm

Dear Kiwi, and all.....

Is it possible to block all pronographic websites through a Districts web portal????

If pornography can be blocked, then any search term could be allowed.

I am assuming that we are trying to protect our childred from images and videos propagated by these sites.

JJC