from Social Issues
NARTH recently learned that the library internet filtering program SurfControl was preventing library patrons from viewing our site on the grounds that we engage in "hate speech."
By Frank York
October 12, 2004 - In mid-September, a supporter of NARTH notified Dr. Joseph Nicolosi that the filtering software at his local library was blocking access to the NARTH web site, www.narth.com.
The supporter contacted SurfControl about the blocking, and was told that NARTH was considered a hate group because it had a social agenda against a person's sexual orientation. The SurfControl representative asserted that NARTH had a "supremacist attitude, coercing people to convert" to heterosexuality.
The NARTH supporter then urged the library officials to review the NARTH site, and the library immediately unblocked it.
Then we contacted SurfControl by email and asked to confirm if it was indeed their policy to prevent library patrons from viewing the NARTH site on the grounds that we disseminate "hate speech." We asked to be unblocked.
A representative from SurfControl responded immediately and said: "Thank you for drawing our attention to the site in question. We've reviewed the content on the site and recategorized it to Society & Culture. Please accept our apologies if the previous categorization caused any inconvenience."
Said NARTH president Joseph Nicolosi, "We thank the library patron who alerted us to this situation--a person who was willing to pursue the matter until he got the library officials to unblock our site from library computers. We are also appreciative of SurfControl's quick response and their willingness to respect our right to principled free speech."