#texas legislation

[king-sassy08]

Did you hear? Texas just banned porn.

Did you hear the "offensive to minors" content bill that stipulated an age verification to access adult content or content deemed harmful or offensive to minors was passed??? Now you have to verify your age to view such content, which can be used to restrict minor access to LGBT resources, sexual health information, and anything else the government deems "offensive or harmful."

And also in a SHOCKING turn of events, Pornhub made itself and its two subsidiary companies unavailable in Texas, calling the bill haphazard and ineffective in protecting minors and actually harmful because it forces minors to interact with potentially harmful sites and denies access to other potentially useful sites. They also said it's an invasion of privacy and a violation of 1st amendment rights.

In order to access adult content in Texas now, it would need to be done by inputting your government ID numbers to prove you're an adult (and allowing the government to know what sites you're accessing, further watchdog activity) OR verify using 3rd party systems (by verifying your debts, student loans, education, job status, tax information, mortgage information to verify you're an adult), which opens the door for information to be sold to other third parties and can potentially expose all of your private life to outsiders.

Putting aside the porn thing, not out of a sense of moral righteousness, but because that is a whole different can of worms to dissect the way banning porn is awful for everyone. Putting that aside, how is this going to affect teens, children, closeted people?

To have zero access to LGBT resources that will be deemed offensive to minors? Goodbye Trevor Project. Goodbye resources on sexual health, what STDs are, and everything of the like. STDs and STIs will increase, health complications from such issues and from potential pregnancy complications (how do you have safe sex if you're not even sure what that means?).

Banning information will not guarantee people stop looking for it or needing it! Instead, they will get WRONG information from friends and other potentially misleading sources, and feel helpless when they have no way to figure out what is going on in their lives. People don't stop needing information because they can't find it. They just suffer because they can't find it.

You may not like Texas, but PLEASE, for the love of God, there are children here. They need your help. Don't turn your back on us. Don't forget the way you learned about sexual health online when your school wouldn't talk about it, or the way you watched that first porn and said, "fuck, I think I'm gay." Cast your gaze towards Texas! I'm begging you to have a little heart.

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Yall remember how Texas had that "report an abortion" form that they had to take down after a week?

Well, Missouri has one, only it's for reporting transgender concerns.

Comrades. Friends. Romans. Countrymen. You know what to do.

[liberalsarecool]

Violence towards women and gun ownership are well-documented. The Violence Against Women Act [written by Biden in 1993, reauthorized in 2022 by Biden] is categorically a Democratic value.

Republicans in Texas are putting women in danger, and they know it. Men with guns will kill pregnant women, and they know it.

Making guns more available kills more mothers and women who are pregnant and they know it.

[my-midlife-crisis]

[transformationsproject]

Read our newsletter for more information.

[alwaysbewoke]

[everlastingrandom]

Some good news from a few hours ago! In surprise move days after Allen mall shooting, Texas House panel OKs bill raising age to buy semi-automatic rifles. The bill still has a way to go before getting passed, it is now moving up to the Calendars committee.

I do want to hype this bill up because the ripple effect it could have on the gun control laws in other states if it is codified would be absolutely massive.

[lilybug-02]

You know it's bad when the TEXAS legislative agrees to ban "displays of inclusivity" in higher education.

I have to edit my emails to not include the word "inclusive" for my Art Club so that our University accepts it. Apparently one of our Women Organizations on campus was disbanned for this specific reason???

I am pissed.

[itseasytoremember]

Fuck Texas. All my homies hate texas

[waambles]

🌿MY QUEER NATURE - Waambles, digital, 2024🌿

There is so much hatred against the concept of trans youth, trans kids, and healthcare for minors

But it isn’t just a concept

I was a trans kid. I was very genderless as a small kid and I was free. I was raised around nature and spirituality and I was happy. To strip kids of that carefree happiness, to take away the ability simply exist without the fear of their future bodies or role in society? It’s evil. The anti trans legislation spreading across America and Canada is evil, and I’m tired of it. I’m tired of our joy and lives being talking points. Let kids be kids ; free from prejudice and social pressure.

Protect queer children. Trans kids matter.

[seraphic-sapphic-safehaven]

In case y'all haven't seen this yet, here is a powerful testimony from Loren Perkins, a trans person in Texas:

I don't know the pronouns nor gender for this person, so please use they/them and gender neutral terminology to be respectful 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Campaign Delegate Jasmine Crockett Appointed National Co-Chair!

As the Harris-Walz campaign continues to gain momentum after the Democratic National Convention and takes into consideration comments at the Down Ballot Dinner, we are scaling up our efforts. Part of that means bringing on a national co-chair and we have decided that Jasmine Crockett can help rally the support we need across the nation, up and down the ballot. Crockett's fierce fight will forcefully fracture faltering conservative coalitions, crushing their complacent candidates while confidently championing Kamala's cause.

~BR~

[weepingfireflies]

This is definitely a jaded view of what's being said here, but there's something so annoying about people not from Texas (or the South in general) speaking like they know it better than people who actually live there. Like, I doubt they meant it like that, but it's really frustrating on a more general scale how big of an asshole people can be about somewhere they've never even been.

[transformationsproject]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has gone a step further, extending the new gender marker change ban to birth certificates. Read our newsletter for more information.

[sybbi]

If anybody wants an update on the precariously-close-to-failed democracy of Ohio, the Republican supermajority is attempting to keep the sitting president off of the November ballot on a technicality they created (and have previously bypassed when convenient).

These are the same people that tried everything in their power to keep an abortion initiative off the ballot despite swearing up and down it wouldn't pass anyway because they totally represent the average Ohioan's opinion on this matter so they KNOW Ohioans are against abortion, and when the measure DID get put on the ballot and Ohioans DID vote to protect abortion, they immediately said "This isn't over," because fuck the people's will.

I've said it before and I will continue to scream it until I'm red in the fucking face:

One party isn't perfect, but they have shown they value the most basic tenets of representative democracy.

The other party is pulling out all the stops to ensure we are a "democracy" in theory only.

[sjerzgirl]

Holy shit. Texas DPS officers just roughed up peaceful protesters in the House Gallery as Republicans prepared to debate their anti-trans bill. (h/t @reportsbychar)

Land of what free? Unless in Texas it means free to be brutal with peaceful prostesters.