Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 12:45:05 -0700 Subject: Statement on RENO v ACLU ruling FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ron Buckmire Founder/Executive Director 213-259-2536 ron@qrd.org David Casti Systems Administrator 800-680-1730 david@casti.com Alan Batie Systems Administrator 800-680-1730 503-452-0960 batie@qrd.org (JUNE 26, 1997) The Queer Resources Directory, the largest and oldest collection of gay- and lesbian- related information on the Internet, released this statement in response to today's decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in RENO v ACLU et al. "Today, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the U.S. government does not have the right to restrict adult acess to information on the Internet. As a plaintiff in the case, the QRD is very happy with today's ruling. Throughout history gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered people have been persecuted by people who have either intentionally or unintentionally been miseducated to believe that people with different sexual orientations or gender identity are less than human and should be treated with disrespect and disgust. One of the main missions of the Queer Resources Directory is to act as a source of accurate information about gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered people so that people everywhere can combat the fear and hate of the ignorant with factual data. Today, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the government can not criminalize the dissemination of materials on the Internet which other people may consider `indecent.'' If the Communications Decency Act had been upheld, homophobic officials in any conservative jurisdiction could try and use it to file charges against the QRD in order to prevent our mission of eliminating homophobia through education. "This was an important decision for the queer comunity. The Internet is the medium of the future. Today the Supreme Court made it more difficult for potential censors of any references to homosexuality to hide behind the canard of `protecting children'' or `banning indecent material. We are already active and present in cyberspace, today's 7-2 ruling in RENO v ACLU helps to insure that as the information highway develops, gays and lesbians will be right there on the road with everyone else. The Queer Resources Directory is the oldest and largest internet resource devoted to archiving information of interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and AIDS/HIV communities. The archive was created in 1991, before the world wide web existed, and now consists of nearly 20 000 files accessed by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world annually. Sometimes called `the online queer library of congress'', the QRD can be accessed at http://www.qrd.org --30--