Texas is Trying to Ban Online Porn in 2024
A canary in the DP for where this state/country may be heading
It was SXSW/St. Patrick’s Day week with March Madness also looming, but I was still reminded yet again of the strange, Puritanical nanny state that Texas is becoming: Adult content heavyweight Pornhub had effectively made its site inaccessible to The Lone Star State several months after Texas quietly passed a law in that effectively makes online porn a crime (unless, of course, you want to give SwingerMILFS.com your real name or skirt the law by investing in a VPN device).
The fact that Pornhub.com appears to be the only major site complying with the law now (by totally disabling its website in Texas rather than instituting the law’s technical requirements) is beside the point. It’s still a real law on the books in this state.
In a move about as shocking as a BMW driver not using a blinker, the 5th Circuit recently upheld an age verification and health warning (LMFAO) component of this weird new Texas law—a decision that appears to robustly fly in the face of current Supreme Court precedent.
So a law effectively trying to ban porn under the very in-vogue guise of “protecting kids” (if you think Texas gives a flying shit about vulnerable youths, just Google “Texas Foster Care System problems” or take a peek at how its conducting itself on the border) actually being about controlling adult freedoms and behaviors really shouldn’t be all that shocking. This is, after all, a place where certain counties want to stop and search cars using the mere suspicion that a woman might be leaving Texas to get an abortion.
This is some fundamentally scary stuff.
In a state that, excuse the expression, jerks off to the very idea of freedom to have instituted such a weird, rights-squelching law may seem surprising on the surface. But a quick peek at Texas’ recent moves reveals that this law is part of a laundry list of anti-choice, evangelical-themed measures like criminalizing abortion right down to the ride to the clinic, banning drag shows/books, and not even allowing the concept of race to so much as be discussed in public educational environments as if the last ~400 years in the U.S./what would later become the U.S. never happened.
The irony of a law effectively trying to outlaw pornography in Texas being enforced by such a horny Attorney General shouldn’t be lost on anyone. It’s both high comedy and a bit of a terrifying move from an AG who definitely has a hard-on for bullshit like this.
The irony of a law effectively trying to outlaw pornography in Texas being enforced by such a horny Attorney General shouldn’t be lost on anyone. It’s both high comedy and a bit of a terrifying move from an AG who definitely has a hard-on for bullshit like this.
So even if you’re still waxing the dolphin in relative peace here in Texas, the larger free speech issues raised by a pearl-clutching state government obsessed with banning adult behaviors should be, at a minimum, chilling.
It’s easy to imagine a situation in the not too distant future, let’s say January of 2025, when a national Porn Ban is (ironically) signed into law by President Donald Trump, to be closely followed by national abortion and birth control bans in February.
This may seem like science fiction, but it’s not only possible but likely if this year’s election goes the wrong way.
Worried yet? If not, you should be. But at a minimum, it deserves a lot more than a shoulder shrug from Texans. Taking away rights is wrong.