Latest news with #PENAmerica
Malaysian Reserve
18-07-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
PEN America Acquires OnlineSOS, Expanding Commitment to Digital Safety and Free Expression
NEW YORK, July 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — In a strategic move underscoring their shared commitment to combating online abuse, PEN America, a leading advocate for free expression worldwide, has acquired the website and digital safety resources of OnlineSOS, a pioneering U.S. nonprofit dedicated to supporting people harassed online. PEN America will integrate these invaluable resources into its Field Manual against online harassment, a guide originally launched in 2018 to equip writers, journalists, researchers, and others with the guidance they need to protect themselves and fight back. OnlineSOS, founded in 2016 by Liz Lee at a time when online abuse was largely overlooked, filled a critical gap by providing professional help to people targeted online. As the first U.S. nonprofit of its kind, OnlineSOS provided tactical and emotional support with a focus on mental health, including free therapy and case management, legal resources, and expert-backed content. Its free and accessible online resources were rooted in firsthand experience with supporting journalists, public figures, and everyday Americans in responding to online threats, and also featured contributions from psychologists, lawyers, cybersecurity professionals, and tech platforms. Under Lee's leadership, OnlineSOS grew into a nationally recognized resource trusted by universities, policymakers, and nonprofit and corporate partners. 'Our mission has always been to equip people facing online harassment with the information they need to take action. Online harassment can cause significant psychological harm, making it all the more important that people have options and a sense of agency when so much feels out of their control,' Lee stated. The decision to find a new home within PEN America for OnlineSOS's digital safety tools is part of a natural progression in OnlineSOS's mission to broaden its impact and ensure the long-term accessibility of its resources. PEN America has highlighted and built on the work of OnlineSOS since launching its online abuse defense programming in 2018. 'Liz Lee and OnlineSOS have been trailblazers in this space, sounding the alarm about online abuse and addressing its devastating impacts when few others were doing this crucial work. We're honored to integrate their resources into our Field Manual and to continue supporting writers, journalists, and others facing online harassment,' said Viktorya Vilk, Director of Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America. By joining forces and consolidating resources, the organizations aim to provide more comprehensive, accessible, and user-friendly guidance to help those abused online protect themselves so that they can continue using their voices and doing their jobs. Liz Lee will continue in an advisory capacity, providing strategic support to PEN America during the integration period to ensure a seamless transition while OnlineSOS winds down its operations and sunsets in 2025. With OnlineSOS transferring its assets to PEN America, the legacy of Liz Lee's groundbreaking work will be preserved and expanded. 'With the PEN America partnership, our resources are in great hands,' Lee expressed. 'We're particularly excited that integrating with the Field Manual, which is also available in French, Spanish, Arabic, and Swahili, will bring OnlineSOS's resources to communities around the world.' For more on the OnlineSOS transition, read Lee's statement on the former OnlineSOS webpage. The collaboration represents not just a continuation, but an amplification of OnlineSOS's mission, ensuring that its valuable resources remain accessible and impactful for years to come. About OnlineSOS:OnlineSOS is a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization founded in 2016 to create a digital safe haven for individuals experiencing online harassment. Through mental health services, legal support, and educational resources, OnlineSOS has been a pioneering force in empowering victims of online abuse. After the completion of an asset acquisition by PEN America, OnlineSOS will sunset in 2025. About PEN America:PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at
Washington Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next?
Laura Benitez is state policy manager and Jonathan Friedman is Sy Syms managing director for PEN America's U.S. free expression programs. As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.
Washington Post
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Superman's father taught me how to write
Jennifer Finney Boylan is president of PEN America. Her newest book is 'Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us.' Superman's father taught me my most important lesson at college. I don't mean Jor-El, the Kryptonian scientist who foresaw the fate of his doomed planet, nor do I mean the various versions of 'Pa Kent,' who adopted the baby from another planet, and, along with his wife, raised him as their own.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Accelerated censorship': advocates criticize US supreme court ruling on LGBTQ+ books
Kiernan, a 24-year-old transgender person from Colorado, feels drained from dealing with legislation that consistently limits the spaces and freedoms of people like him. Since he transitioned in 2016, it's been the same – first bathroom bills, then censorship in the education system – routine attacks on LGBTQ+ rights that Kiernan feels have now just become part of living in the US. Now, in the wake of the Mahmoud v Taylor supreme court ruling, the stigmatization of these communities is likely to worsen. The highest court in the US ruled that parents in Maryland's Montgomery county school district can opt their children out of lessons that include books with LGBTQ+ themes and characters if they feel that it violates their religious rights. The move angered LGBTQ+ groups and civil rights advocates who also say that the lengthy and judicial process of these opt-outs could have chaotic implications for the US education system nationwide. 'LGBTQ-relevant books are just the beginning in accelerated censorship,' Sabrina Baêta, a senior member of PEN America, told the Guardian. 'What's to stop schools from backing away from any books that may be offensive? We have already seen other topics like Black history disappear as districts try to avoid anything potentially controversial.' Related: Hegseth announces new name of US navy ship that honored gay rights icon Harvey Milk PEN America highlighted in a recent report that teachers may be more likely to overlook topics that require parental consent, thereby brushing over crucial books and subjects in classrooms that promote diverse identities and learning. In administrative terms, the court's ruling also poses problems for teachers and educators. Rather than focusing on lessons at hand, they will have to grapple with what is or isn't appropriate on religious grounds. And while anything with LGBTQ+ themes will constitute a student being able to leave the classroom, it creates a grey zone for topics like science and history, where certain lessons – such as about reproduction – could be seen as now potentially inappropriate. Opt-outs are believed by experts to have a pernicious effect on educational environments, but their implementation is not a new phenomenon. For a short period between the 2022-2023 school year, the Montgomery county board of education allowed them after introducing several 'LGBTQ+ inclusive' texts into the curriculum. Less than a year after the books were introduced, however, the board rescinded this option, saying it 'could not accommodate the growing number of opt-out requests without causing significant disruptions to the classroom environment'. Moreover, a school board official stated that permitting some students to opt out while stories were being told would expose others to 'social stigma and isolation'. 'It's really frustrating and a burden on my psyche,' Kiernan said, speaking on the mounting number of bills and legislation that have recently targeted LGBTQ+ youth. 'These bills aren't doing anything positive for children; it's a political agenda that's trying to veil itself in support for religious people,' he said. 'I wish it would go away. Let people be people and stop using us as a political scapegoat.' Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School, submitted a document to the court in the Mahmoud v Taylor hearing in support of the Montgomery county school district, saying: 'the decision succeeds in opening Pandora's box in countless classrooms located in our nation's public schools.' Driver, who specializes in education law, believes it unwise that parents and students be granted the authority to veto individual school lessons and assignments, and added that legal experts have 'long extolled local control of public education'. 'Public schools must now brace themselves for a dizzying array of curricular opt-out demands,' Driver said, adding: 'the American education system will be much poorer for it.' When the conservative-dominated court ruled 6-3 in favour, siding with the Muslim, Christian and Catholic parents who brought the case, Justice Samuel Alito authored the majority opinion, and the three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – were in dissent. In the ruling, Alito wrote: 'We have long recognized the rights of parents to direct 'the religious upbringing' of their children. And we have held that those rights are violated by government policies that substantially interfere with the religious development of children.' While parents will be able to uphold these rights under the new ruling, teachers may be overwhelmed at the beginning of the school year. Schools could struggle to determine what constitutes infringement on someone's religious liberty while simultaneously honoring the freedom of speech guaranteed by the first amendment. Assessing the validity of removing books on religious grounds will also be problematic, given the broader ongoing campaign by parents' rights groups and religious organizations to remove LGBTQ+ content from schools across the nation, especially in Republican-led areas. 'The creation of opt-outs is license to censor the very existence of the LBGTQ+ community and their families,' the PEN American writer AJ Connelly concluded in her report. 'It is not difficult to imagine that other groups might soon be added to the list of those who may not be named,' she added.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Accelerated censorship': advocates criticize US supreme court ruling on LGBTQ+ books
Kiernan, a 24-year-old transgender person from Colorado, feels drained from dealing with legislation that consistently limits the spaces and freedoms of people like him. Since he transitioned in 2016, it's been the same – first bathroom bills, then censorship in the education system – routine attacks on LGBTQ+ rights that Kiernan feels have now just become part of living in the US. Now, in the wake of the Mahmoud v Taylor supreme court ruling, the stigmatization of these communities is likely to worsen. The highest court in the US ruled that parents in Maryland's Montgomery county school district can opt their children out of lessons that include books with LGBTQ+ themes and characters if they feel that it violates their religious rights. The move angered LGBTQ+ groups and civil rights advocates who also say that the lengthy and judicial process of these opt-outs could have chaotic implications for the US education system nationwide. 'LGBTQ-relevant books are just the beginning in accelerated censorship,' Sabrina Baêta, a senior member of PEN America, told the Guardian. 'What's to stop schools from backing away from any books that may be offensive? We have already seen other topics like Black history disappear as districts try to avoid anything potentially controversial.' PEN America highlighted in a recent report that teachers may be more likely to overlook topics that require parental consent, thereby brushing over crucial books and subjects in classrooms that promote diverse identities and learning. In administrative terms, the court's ruling also poses problems for teachers and educators. Rather than focusing on lessons at hand, they will have to grapple with what is or isn't appropriate on religious grounds. And while anything with LGBTQ+ themes will constitute a student being able to leave the classroom, it creates a grey zone for topics like science and history, where certain lessons – such as about reproduction – could be seen as now potentially inappropriate. Opt-outs are believed by experts to have a pernicious effect on educational environments, but their implementation is not a new phenomenon. For a short period between the 2022-2023 school year, the Montgomery county board of education allowed them after introducing several 'LGBTQ+ inclusive' texts into the curriculum. Less than a year after the books were introduced, however, the board rescinded this option, saying it 'could not accommodate the growing number of opt-out requests without causing significant disruptions to the classroom environment'. Moreover, a school board official stated that permitting some students to opt out while stories were being told would expose others to 'social stigma and isolation'. 'It's really frustrating and a burden on my psyche,' Kiernan said, speaking on the mounting number of bills and legislation that have recently targeted LGBTQ+ youth. 'These bills aren't doing anything positive for children; it's a political agenda that's trying to veil itself in support for religious people,' he said. 'I wish it would go away. Let people be people and stop using us as a political scapegoat.' Justin Driver, a professor at Yale Law School, submitted a document to the court in the Mahmoud v Taylor hearing in support of the Montgomery county school district, saying: 'the decision succeeds in opening Pandora's box in countless classrooms located in our nation's public schools.' Driver, who specializes in education law, believes it unwise that parents and students be granted the authority to veto individual school lessons and assignments, and added that legal experts have 'long extolled local control of public education'. 'Public schools must now brace themselves for a dizzying array of curricular opt-out demands,' Driver said, adding: 'the American education system will be much poorer for it.' When the conservative-dominated court ruled 6-3 in favour, siding with the Muslim, Christian and Catholic parents who brought the case, Justice Samuel Alito authored the majority opinion, and the three liberal justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – were in dissent. In the ruling, Alito wrote: 'We have long recognized the rights of parents to direct 'the religious upbringing' of their children. And we have held that those rights are violated by government policies that substantially interfere with the religious development of children.' While parents will be able to uphold these rights under the new ruling, teachers may be overwhelmed at the beginning of the school year. Schools could struggle to determine what constitutes infringement on someone's religious liberty while simultaneously honoring the freedom of speech guaranteed by the first amendment. Assessing the validity of removing books on religious grounds will also be problematic, given the broader ongoing campaign by parents' rights groups and religious organizations to remove LGBTQ+ content from schools across the nation, especially in Republican-led areas. 'The creation of opt-outs is license to censor the very existence of the LBGTQ+ community and their families,' the PEN American writer AJ Connelly concluded in her report. 'It is not difficult to imagine that other groups might soon be added to the list of those who may not be named,' she added.
