Under the guise of the revised (and ever more draconian) Youth Healthy Development Ordinance, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government this week declared that the manga Imōto Paradise! 2 was an “unhealthy publication.” Under the ordinance, such materials cannot be sold to…
Category: Legal
Bone Named Among 10 Most Banned Books of 2013!
Today, the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom posted their annual list of the ten most-challenged books. The 2013 list has many of the “usual suspects” and one not-so-usual suspect: Jeff Smith’s Bone secured the rank of tenth most…
Politician Who Sponsored Law Struck Down by Brown v. EMA Arrested on Corruption Charges
Until recently, most of us here at CBLDF could only claim to know State Senator Leland Yee of California as the man behind the law struck down by the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. EMA. As of this week,…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Urging SC Senate to Restore Funding to Universities
Last week, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a budget that punitively cut the budgets of two colleges that had incorporated LGBT-themed books into elective reading programs. CBLDF has joined a coalition of free speech advocates to urge the…
New Tax Plan Takes Aim at Violent Video Games
Censorship usually takes the form of the direct suppression of speech, but it seems that U.S. legislators are attempting new means of indirect censorship by using tax reform. Unsurprisingly, violent video games are the scapegoat that the Tax Reform Act…
Kansas Lawmakers Consider Bill that Would Enable Prosecution of Educators for “Offensive” Material
Lawmakers in the Kansas Senate are considering a draconian new bill that would make it easier to prosecute educators and other school officials for using “offensive” materials in classrooms and libraries. Senate Bill 401 was proposed in response to controversy…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Urging Supreme Court to Uphold Right to Bring First Amendment Challenges
This week, a coalition of free speech advocates, media organizations, booksellers, librarians, and publishers — including CBLDF and Dark Horse Comics — submitted an amicus brief (friend-of-the-court brief) in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus. The brief urges the United…
Bechdel, SC Residents Respond to Punitive Proposed Funding Cuts
Last week, a South Carolina House of Representatives committee approved a punitive funding cut for the College of Charleston because the school selected Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home for an optional summer reading program. Now, both the author and regular South…
CBLDF Joins Coalition Defending The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (Again)
It’s a miracle if a week goes by without a challenge to Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Unfortunately, the novel has been challenged once again, this time in Sweet Home, Oregon. CBLDF has joined the…
The Lost Comics Code of Australia
The Comics Code Authority highlights one of the darkest periods of comic book history. As a direct result of criticism from the Senate, the Code was implemented by the comics industry, leading to years of self-censorship in an attempt to…