Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has joined the ACLU, booksellers, media companies, and artists in a federal lawsuit, Florence v. Shurtleff, that seeks to bar enforcement of a Utah law. The law regulates Internet speech that some might consider “harmful to minors,” including comics, visual art, photography, and information about the sexual health and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. 

 

Utah has consented to a temporary injunction barring the enforcement of the law until the case is decided. 

 

The plaintiffs argue that it’s up to parents, not the publishers, to control access of minors to constitutionally protected content that the parents feel is inappropriate for their children. Darcy Goddard of the Utah ACLU explained. “There are other options available, such as parental controls, that could accomplish the state’s goal of protecting minors more effectively and within the bounds of the First Amendment,” she said.