censorship: Last News

Gladiator II.The Oscar-winning actor plays Macrinus, an ambitious, wealthy Roman businessman who is presumed to be bisexual in the film.“I kissed the man in the film but they took it [out]. I think they got chicken,” he told Gayety.

Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur’s military service during World War II was reportedly scrubbed from the U.S. Department of Defense website as part of the Trump administration’s overzealous efforts to purge anything related to diversity or LGBTQ identity.Last week, X user @swiftillery noted that the article on Arthur — first published in October 2021 — had been removed from the Defense Department website.According to The Advocate, the Internet Archive documented a “404 — Page Not Found” message at the URL where the article had been housed.Bonus chapter of Women’s History Month in honor of the program scrubbing DOD web articles.

ruling, Rosenthal found that the Queer Empowerment Council, which organizes the event, was likely to succeed in proving the ban violates the First Amendment. Rosenthal’s ruling comes after the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents passed a resolution in February banning drag performances from all 11 state university campuses on the grounds that drag — specifically, the idea of biological male performers dressing as women — is allegedly offensive and demeaning to women, “inconsistent” with the university’s core values, and creates a “hostile environment” for women in violation of federal law.The Queer Empowerment Council sued the university, arguing that the ban violates students’ and performers’ First Amendment rights and engaged in censorship or viewpoint discrimination against those who either do not find drag offensive or don’t hold socially conservative political beliefs.Rosenthal, a George H.W.

fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex blasted the company’s latest policy changes and condemned the social media mogul for bidding farewell to the longstanding fact-checking program these platforms have used in previous years.“It doesn’t matter whether your views are left, right or somewhere in between — the latest news from Meta about changes to their policies directly undermines free speech,” the couple said in a statement published on their Archewell website.

Reuters that the bill would likely force her organization to shut down.The bill also bans access to gender-affirming care for all people — even adults — and prohibits changing the gender marker on people’s official documents to align with their gender identity rather than their assigned sex at birth. Parliamentary leaders of the governing Georgian Dream party say the legislation is needed to uphold traditional moral values, foster and support the family unit, and protect minors from being unduly influenced by visible displays of LGBTQ identity.As in Russia, the restrictions on LGBTQ rights and visibility are strongly supported by the Orthodox Church, which wields great influence in Georgian society.

Blake Lively’s new romantic drama “It Ends With Us” has reportedly been banned from movie screens in Qatar because of the film’s kissing scenes.The nation’s Censorship Committee – which has the final word on what plays in Qatari theaters – was behind the decision to block the PG-13 film, according to Deadline and Variety. Based on the popular Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, “It Ends With Us” focuses its story on domestic abuse and a woman’s struggle to leave a toxic relationship.

Ban This Book, by Alan Gratz, from its shelves, overriding its own Florida district book-review committee’s decision rejecting a challenge to the book.The children’s novel follows a fictional fourth-grade student who creates a secret library of banned books in her locker after her local school board bans those titles.Indian River School Board members said they disliked how it referenced other books that have been removed from schools and accused it of “teaching rebellion of school board authority.”Ban This Book, which had been housed in two elementary school libraries and a middle school, was challenged by Jennifer Pippin, president of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national right-wing group that routinely rails against books that they claim contain “age-inappropriate content” and address LGBTQ rights, among other fabricated grievances.The school board voted 3-2 to remove the book from shelves, with two candidates backed by Moms for Liberty voting to remove it, along with a third member , Kevin McDonald, who was recently appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill a vacant seat following the ill-timed resignation of Brian Barefoot.McDonald tried to justify banning the book by claiming the board was acting on behalf of parents who wanted to keep their children from being “indoctrinated” or exposed to allegedly “woke” ideas.“The title itself and the theme challenges our authority,” McDonald said of Ban This Book.

Today, I signed a bill into law putting an end to book bans based on ideology in Minnesota.— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) May 17, 2024 The prohibition on book bans comes as a host of states have adopted bans on curriculum content, placed restrictions on what library books can be checked out, and empowered citizens, regardless of whether they are parents, to challenge the availability of books touching on race, racism, and LGBTQ-related topics.Iowa lawmakers even introduced a bill that would criminalize librarians or book lenders who allow minors to check out or purchase books with “obscene” content.Backers of such restrictions argue that they’re not trying to ban any books, but want to protect minors from being exposed to sexually explicit material or content that is too mature.Many of those proponents argue that any LGBTQ content — regardless of age or grade level, even if it is not sexually explicit — is tantamount to “pornography.” They argue that the presence of books with LGBTQ content is an attempt to indoctrinate children into accepting homosexuality as “normal,” in conflict with their religious beliefs, or into identifying as LGBTQ.Nearly every state has experienced an increase in challenges to books in various schools and public libraries.

educational conference in Berlin in April.But soon after the picture was posted, Instagram censored it with a black message screen that forced users to click to view the image.“Sensitive Content,” the message screen read. “This photo may contain graphic or violent content… [or] images that some people might find upsetting.”Later, an error message appeared on the link to the picture, which could no longer be viewed at all.The image features a real-life couple, Sam and David, and their child Jude.

tracker developed by the American Civil Liberties Union.According to the ACLU, Oklahoma currently has the most proposed anti-LGBTQ bills with 36 — though many of them are redundant, with lawmakers introducing their own versions of nearly identical bills.The state with the next highest number of bills is Missouri, which has introduced 28, and South Carolina, which has introduced 26.Most of the bills target the transgender community, taking the form of efforts to either redefine transgender existence out of law or place restrictions on transgender people’s ability to self-identify, access spaces, or receive services that affirm their gender identity.More than 200 bills focus on educational matters, including proposed athlete bans, curriculum censorship bills, and at least 38 requiring LGBTQ-identifying students to be outed to their parents in the name of “parental rights.”Another 120 seek to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for trans-identifying minors, with some even seeking to require transgender adults to overcome a number of bureaucratic or regulatory obstacles to receive transition-related treatments, which critics say is an attempt to frighten medical providers into refusing to see transgender patients altogether.Already, 24 states have passed some form of restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, resulting in a flood of legal challenges from families with transgender children and from doctors who are penalized for prescribing gender-affirming care under the laws.While most lower-level federal courts temporarily blocked such bans last year, only one statewide ban, in Arkansas, has been declared unconstitutional.Other bans in Indiana, Montana, and Florida remain blocked, although bans in states

The Guardian reported.Hardliners also slammed the feature for the portrayal of the Hindu deity Lord Ramthat, claiming the film implied that Ramthat ate meat while in exile. Critics of the film also say that the movie promotes a conspiracy theory that Muslim men are on a “love jihad” to marry and convert Hindu women.Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a popular rightwing Hindu group, launched their campaign on Wednesday by saying the film was “intentionally released to hurt Hindu sentiments,” per The Guardian.The group’s online protest quickly gained traction on social media and culminated in an in-person rally at Netflix’s headquarters.

Gender Queer, a memoir by Maia Kobabe about her coming of age as a nonbinary person, available to students at the school.The complaining individual — who is reportedly a member of the school community — provided police with two images. The first was the book’s cover, in which a person is seen staring into a pool of water, looking at a shirtless reflection that does not match their physical appearance.The second was a scene from the book in which two illustrated characters are shown engaging in oral sex.

Forbes.Prosecutors had claimed that the YouTube videos “spread LGBT values” and sought to convince “minors to commit illegal actions,” according to Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.It is unclear what is meant by the “illegal actions” that the videos are encouraging minors to engage in, although similar language has been used to rail against transgender visibility on the grounds that it will encourage minors to identify as transgender or pursue gender transitions.The fine is the steepest one levied against the search engine in Russia for violating its law prohibiting the spread of “LGBT propaganda.”Last month, the country’s Supreme Court deemed the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an “extremist” organization, prompting crackdowns by local police on LGBTQ venues or advocacy organizations. Under Russian law, anyone participating in or financing an “extremist” organization, including any LGBTQ advocacy groups, can be prosecuted and jailed for up to 12 years.The Russian government, led by President Vladimir Putin, adopted a law in 2013 that prohibits the spread of “propaganda” related to “nontraditional sexual relations,” or any information that paints LGBTQ identity in a positive or neutral light, among minors.

Kansas Reflector, all five city commissioners have ties to the Society of St. Pius X, a conservative religious sect with significant influence over the town.While the commissioners are technically not supposed to control decisions regarding how the library functions, they sought to pressure Cremer into deciding between keeping the library branch open, or parting with some books that ran against the commissioners’ personal moral and religious beliefs.Last year, St.

introducing the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award on behalf of his new film, “Killers of the Flower Moon.”“I just want to say one thing,” the actor continued. “The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out and I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it.

barring a transgender student from playing a male role in his high school’s production of Oklahoma! has reversed course, allowing the original casting decisions to stand.On November 13, the Sherman Independent School District board voted to reinstate the original script and cast for the musical after local community members flooded the board’s regularly scheduled meeting to defend the casting of Max Hightower, a transgender male, as the peddler Ali Hakim.According to Dallas-area ABC affiliate WFAA, more than 60 people spoke in support of Hightower and slammed the board’s decision to prohibit not only Hightower but all students from playing roles that don’t match their assigned sex at birth.Administrators had interceded after several students were cast in cross-gender roles, citing a nonexistent district policy as justification for recasting the musical.Sherman High School administrators also insisted that the musical contained “mature adult themes, profane language, and sexual content,” and the production would have to be postponed for a month while the musical was rewritten to create a more “age-appropriate version.”But local community members weren’t buying the administrators’ explanation, with speaker after speaker denouncing the recasting decision and the decision to rewrite the musical.Speakers criticized the board for caving to perceived political and social pressure to enforce rigid gender roles in school productions.“I’ve played male roles in the past and it was no big deal — and guess what, that’s theater!” one actress told the board.“Reinstate the real version of Oklahoma! and let the students sing!” said another commenter.Following the public comment section of the meeting, the board went into a private,

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation, an illustrated adaptation of Frank’s indispensable, historic book The Diary of a Young Girl. In the passage, the then-teenaged author and victim of the Holocaust described her genitals and attraction to other females.Frank, a German-born Jewish teenager who died in 1945, just months before Germany’s defeat in World War II, wrote the diary during a two-year time period when she and her family were in hiding to avoid being sent to Nazi death camps, remaining ensconced in a secret annex above the Amsterdam warehouse for the company that her father had owned.The graphic novel, which hews closely to the text of the unedited, original version of Diary, contains portions of Frank’s diary that had previously been edited out of the book’s 1952 English edition, but were restored in the book’s 1989 republication, reports The Dallas Morning News.Those censored sections included passages where Frank wrote about her understanding of male and female genitalia — including the development of her own body during puberty — and where she expressed feelings of attraction toward a female friend.Pulling from those passages, the graphic novel adaptation depicts Frank asking a female friend if she’d feel comfortable exposing their breasts to each other, with her friend declining.

video, published by the conservative Family Policy Alliance, emerged of her telling an interviewer, back in March, that “protecting minor children from the transgender in this culture” should be among conservative lawmakers’ top priorities.In the video, Blackburn quickly shifts to speaking about KOSA as a way to stop children from being “indoctrinated,” blaming social media platforms for “inundating” minors with information that “they are, emotionally, not mature enough to handle.”The bill, which has been endorsed by President Joe Biden, would allow parents to sue social media companies and online platforms that do not sufficiently shield children from under 13 from “harmful” content.But Blackburn’s comments in the video, coming so soon after railing against transgender visibility, have led some LGBTQ advocates to fear that Republicans will attempt to hijack the bill to censor all LGBTQ-related information online and block access to LGBTQ resources, from suicide prevention hotlines to LGBTQ resource groups to academic sites with even generic information, by deeming them “harmful,” reports NBC News.In response to that speculation, Blackburn’s legislative director, Jamie Susskind, claimed in a post on X that opponents were conflating the two issues and spreading misinformation about the bill. Citing an article titled, “U.S.

An Atlanta-area teacher was fired after reading a children’s book featuring a nonbinary character to her fifth-grade class. In a 4-3 decision last week, the Cobb County School Board fired Katie Rinderle after she read My Shadow Is Purple to her class.

yank six titles — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “On Beyond Zebra!” — from print in 2021, citing supposedly offensive content in the picture books.And, over the decades, Richard Scarry’s classic children’s books have been retroactively tinkered with time and again by sensitivity readers. Editors sought to counteract gender stereotypes… by making a policeman bear a policewoman bear, and swapping an illustration of a mom cat pushing a stroller out for a dad cat.Not even “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is safe.

Associated Press.The new law, which prohibits access to hormone therapy, puberty-blocking drugs, and gender confirmation surgery although minors who had begun treatment prior to Aug. 1 may continue receiving puberty blockers or hormones if their doctors deem it medically necessary and their parents consent.