Author: Betsy Gomez

CBLDF and other free speech advocates won an important victory last year when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. EMA, striking down a California law that restricted the sale of video games to minors based on specious evidence that violence in video games causes violence in children. The law would have made violent speech a new category of unprotected speech, alongside obscenity.

A law proposed by Representatives Joe Baca and Frank Wolf has raised free speech concerns again. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has raised the issue.

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The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression — both frequent CBLDF collaborators in the fight for First Amendment rights — are looking for a New York-based coordinator to manage their Kids Right to Read Project. The full job posting has all of the details, after the jump…

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Imagine going through a security check more involved than anything you face before taking a flight, even if you’re a small child. You must be entering a high-security building, like the White House, right? You may also be entering a school board meeting in Tucson, Arizona.

The Tuscon Unified School District beefed up security at their school board meetings in response to the outrage fostered when the Tucson school district decided to end the Mexican American Studies program and removed several books by Mexican and Native authors from classrooms. Even small children are not exempt from being wanded and searched by security. When a Latino father took a photo of his 9-year-old son being searched before a meeting, his photo went viral and was embraced as emblematic of the anti-Latino and anti-immigrant attitude many feel is endemic in Arizona.

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One of the side effects of the clashes and protests against President Bashar al-Assad that have seized Syria is the ability to speak more openly against the government, an ability that had been previously stifled by the regime. In the midst of this political discourse, some Syrians have embraced satire, generating videos, plays, and cartoons that use humor to counter the horror, frustration, and civil unrest that has affected citizens of the nation.

A recent report by Michael Rundle on the Huffington Post describes the role of satire in the protests, including the work of one cartoonist in particular, Ali Ferzat.

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In spite of an attempted boycott by the American Family Association’s One Million Moms, Life with Archie #16 — which featured the marriage of openly gay character Kevin Keller — sold out in record time. In the official press release from Archie Comics, C0-CEO Jon Goldwater says:

“Kevin will always be a major part of Riverdale, and we’re overjoyed, honored and humbled by the response to this issue,” said Jon Goldwater, Co-CEO of Archie Comics. “Our fans have come out full force to support Kevin. He is, without a doubt, the most important new character in Archie history. He’s here to stay.”

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In response to the controversial nature of last week’s Doonesbury strips — which dealt with Texas’s mandatory sonogram law — many newspapers moved the strips to the editorial page or online only, or they declined to publish the strips entirely. In response, people across the nation have decried the move, arguing that newspapers should not be allowed to decide what they can or cannot read. Editors across the nation have had to defend their decisions, and several newspaper and online editorials have protested the censorship.

Excerpts from various editorials follow after the jump…

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