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Gays Protest AOL Censorship

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 26, 1999 / 11:25 AM EDT / CBS

Gay activists are threatening to boycott America Online, reports KCBS-AM reporter Larry Chiaroni.

AOL disks were set afire in downtown San Francisco Monday to send a message to the online provider.

The world's largest Internet service provider is accused of censoring gays when members talk explicitly about sex, while San Francisco Supervisor Leslie Katz says AOL doesn't censor hate speech against homosexuals or certain races and religions.

"If they're going to have a policy of having some filters," Katz told the CBS Radio station, "then you'd better really filter out some horrific kinds of comments and language or have no filters."

America Online, based in Dulles, Va., has a base of 18 million members and another 2 million subscribers through its CompuServe subsidiary. It says it has a zero tolerance for hate speech, bigotry and discrimination.

[Note: AOL is an interactive partner with CBS.com.]