Utah’s local civil liberties watchdog group are asking high school students to check their school’s web filters to see if they are censoring positive LGBT websites while openly allowing access to anti-gay websites.---

The ACLU of Utah, in partnership with the Yale Law School LGBT Litigation Clinic is reminding students that their school’s computers could be violating their First Amendment rights without them even knowing it. Such filters could be blocking access to educational and political content for students interested in learning more about Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender issues, while openly allowing access to websites that condemn LGBT lifestyles or advocate for changing people’s orientations through therapy. Some schools have even configured computers to filter out websites that offer counseling and support to troubled LGBT youth.

A quick tutorial is to simply check access to a number of affirmative LGBT websites like the National Day of Silence versus more adversarial ones like People Can Change.

For a more complete list of websites to use and instructions on checking out school filters visit the ACLU of Utah’s action alert here. The link will also include an online form to document the school’s filter settings.