One Million Moms (1MM), an organization with less than 100,000 members, has taken offense to ads for PrEP, an HIV prevention drug, that are being shown on TV Land. 1MM is demanding the network stop running the ads even though the ads do not explicitly mention HIV, homosexuality, or the LGBTQ+ community. The ads feature Michelle Visage, best known as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and only mentions “injectable PrEP options.” Hopefully TV Land will dismiss any petition 1MM may send their way as the importance of HIV prevention greatly outweighs the pearl clutching of a handful of people.
In a setback for the battle against censorship, a federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to a 2023 Arkansas law creating criminal penalties (including up to one year in prison) for librarians “furnishing a harmful item to a minor.” The law also gives county and city governing boards the final say on which books need to be segregated into areas only accessible to adults. In some counties, this has meant that all LGBTQ-themed books, even if written for children, had to be placed in an adults-only section. “Libraries and bookstores should be places where people can freely explore ideas, not where booksellers and librarians face criminal liability for selling, checking out, or even just shelving constitutionally protected books,” John Adams, the lead attorney of the challenge, said. “The freedom to read is fundamental to a free society and has always been protected by the First Amendment.”
