sex, lies, videotape, and gay-bashing


That was the headline on page 22 of Spy magazine's August issue.

On page 36 they report, "Ornithologists have been banned from discussing titmice on America Online." But in a story titled "homophobia@aol.com", Spy shows that they've got AOL's number...
America Online is the "family oriented" online service that once censored all usage of the word breast, even when referring to breast cancer. But will it advertise hot 'n' steamy gay videos? Sure! Just ask Jeff Satkin, owner of ATKOL Gay Videos in Plainfield, New Jersey.
They go on to tell the story we know all too well.... AOL banned any video whose title contained the words "pleasure," "black," "straight", or "sex". They also banned the title "Wet and Wild" while allowing the same words for a collection of heterosexu al erotica elsewhere on the service. Strangest of all, they allowed other titles to be advertised which were almost identical to the "banned" titles...

Even the ACLU recognized the two-faced nature of AOL's free-speech posturing...


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