Democrats in the Minnesota House voted down a procedural motion last week that would have advanced a bill requiring age verification for pornographic websites.
Republican Rep. Ben Bakeberg moved to place his bill on the general register, which is typically the last stop for legislation before it is taken up for a final vote.
His bill, HF 1434, would require websites “where 25 percent or more of the webpages feature pornography to verify that a person seeking to access the website is 18 or older,” according to a House research summary.
“This is a bill to protect kids,” Bakeberg said during Thursday’s House floor session. “All it is doing is taking what happens in the physical world and bringing it into the digital world.”
He noted that the Supreme Court upheld a similar law in Texas in a ruling last summer.
Democratic Rep. Erin Koegel said members of her caucus believe the bill is the “right idea” but the “wrong approach.”
“Not wrong approach. I guess there was just some concerns in this bill,” she said.
In a previous committee hearing, DFLers said they were concerned that the language of the bill was too broad and that it could be used against LGBT people.
Specifically, Democratic Rep. Leigh Finke, a male who identifies as a woman, said attorneys general in states with age verification laws are “almost jubilant” about using those laws to ban “young people from accessing content that could be educational if they are queer.”
“Can we get this bill to a place where we can agree we will not use this against content that is designed for people under 18 to educate them about themselves, their lives, their community?” Finke asked.
A clip of Finke’s comments went viral on social media. According to Koegel, Finke’s comments were “completely misconstrued, [and] put up online on social media to make a target out of her.”
“This is one of those bills that if anybody else but me gets up and speaks on, I’m sure one of our members will go put it on social media and try and get somebody killed,” Koegel continued, prompting audible objections from Republicans.
Republican Rep. Walter Hudson responded to Koegel later in Thursday’s debate.
“If you want to make the argument that there’s a lack of LGBT sex education, then make that argument. Bring that bill,” he said. “But in the context of a bill that says we’re simply going to ensure that you’re an adult before you access pornographic material, to bring that up, that’s going to raise some eyebrows.”
Other Democrats said Thursday that the bill has not spent enough time being vetted in the committee process and needs more work.
Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Peggy Scott highlighted some of the alarming statistics on pornography consumption among young people.
“Pornography objectifies women and children. Some of these sites are very violent. Not a good thing for anyone to be watching, let alone a child,” she said.
The bill has one Democratic co-author in the House and two in the Senate.
“The simple fact of this bill is that the goal is to protect kids from porn. It’s a simple green vote,” Bakeberg concluded.
Ultimately, his motion failed in a 67-67 vote, with Republicans voting for it and Democrats against. Rep. Kari Rehrauer, a Democratic co-author of the bill, voted against Bakeberg’s motion.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
