I find this very sad. We should not discriminate against color,
sexual preferences or anything else. I stand behind you on this one.
And I would like to add the reason I am NOT an AOL member is for
reasons you have just described including AOL does not take care of
their customers concerns. If MSN starts this they will have lost me
as a customer also.

- In intersexsupport@y..., barbieboy01@a... wrote:
> AOL has done it again. As of right now, their "parental
controls"
> don't keep porno mailers or predators away from kids but do keep TG
youth
> away from medical/help sites, and their chat room title prohibition
defies
> belief in its restrictiveness.
> A few days ago, a friend set one of his screen names
to "highest
> parental control" (as in "this account is for a 12-yr-old) so some
porno
> spammers would dorop him from their lists. This did nothing to
stop the
> porno ads, but does keep TG youth out of medical/self-help sites.
The ads
> came through as explicit as ever, meanwhile when we used that
particular
> account to get on the web,. the self-help site Long Island Trans
Experience
> (www.litransexperience.org) was totally blocked.
> As for chat rooms, if you're a member and go into "start
your own
> chat," the banned title words list is ridiculous. Let's see,
both "queer"
> and "genderqueer" are banned, even though both are used positively
by the
> LGBT community. "dyke" is banned even when talking about the
Boston Dyke
> March or the news show Dyke TV. Any title with the letters "S-E-
X" is
> totally banned. This includes of course both "transsexual"
and "intersex"
> are forbidden topics. As is "safe sex". As is even discussing
place names
> like "Sussex, England" or "middlesex new jersey." And the
word "breast" is
> forbidden even in medical context like "breast health" or "breast
cancer."
> I have both emailed and called AOL and they simply do not
care about
> this. I emailed their "help desk" and their "complaints" and "Terms
Of
> Service" (TOS) and have only gotten "please go to the suggestion
box" (maybe
> a "circular file?"). Bear in mind that AOL's recent history
includes the
> 1993-94 ban on profiles with the words
> "transgender"/"transvestite"/"transgender" as "vulgar" (thank you
Gwen Smith
> for telling me about that one!) and the late 2000 grant to Corla
Ridge
> (ex-gay) Church. And when I called them today, the 1st person I
got told me
> "the breast cancer tyhing is legitimate concern but I don't see
about those
> other things" meaning the LGBT issues, and that :discrimination
isn't against
> the law.," While the next person I got apologized for him and said
AOL is
> "LGBT friendly" I don't trust them at all, especially when I got
such a weak
> response to my conerns with them. I urge you to do whatever you
can to look
> into this and see what you can do to get AOL to wake up and join
the 21st
> Century, or at least the 20th. And I urge you to send this to
anyone you
> think cares about this.
> Thank you,
> Cynthya BrianKate