Michigan lawmakers have their eye on banning online porn, and not just the raunchy stuff. Moaning is apparently a bridge too far for some politicians, and if you’ve been making trans porn? Brace yourself, cause things could get real uncomfy. Rep. Josh Schriver has introduced House Bill 4938, called the “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act.” It’s kinda like Footloose, but instead of a tiny town in Texas, it’s the entire internet. And instead of dancing, it’s… well. All of the fun things you can usually find online.
Here’s the general gist of what the bill actually says. It calls for a total ban on everything from erotic ASMR to full-blown porn. Should the bill pass, it would make it a felony to create, share, or even host that kind of content. The penalties for breaking said theoretical bill are up to 25 years in prison and fines with entirely too many zeroes on the end. Even platforms that aren’t specifically for adult content would have to build 24/7 surveillance tools to make sure nothing slips under the radar. Sounds like a bummer, but there’s good news! If your kink involves a lab coat, there are exemptions carved out specifically for “medical or scientific use!”
…oh, wait. That’s not actually what that means. My bad, y’all.
The big red flag that has critics on alert is the language in the bill specifically banning depictions of someone “presenting as” another biological sex. That’s not really about banning porn so much as policing gender expression altogether. Drag queens, trans creators, even a trans person just going about their day-to-day non-explicit business online could get flagged as illegal.
Yikes.
Critics and political opponents of the bill say it presents a very real risk to First Amendment rights. Freedom of expression includes the freedom of sexual expression. Obscenity laws already exist and have constitutional limits, but the proposed bill utterly flattens all the nuances that allow for pornography (with or without the presence of trans entertainers) to safely exist. The government deciding for you what is and isn’t immoral is a bit of a slippery slope. Let us all recall the days when scientists were burned at the stake for daring to suggest that bathing regularly might be a good idea. If moaning is illegal speech, then how are we supposed to explain things like childbirth when the cops show up at 8 cm dilated, hmmm?
Platforms being forced to scan everything 24/7 in order to remain in compliance would lead to a mass surveillance nightmare, cause ain’t nobody’s servers got that kind of power. It’s impossible to get filters to work perfectly, so fine art, LGBTQIA+ discussions, sex ed resources, and even medical information could get booted in the name of compliance. This bill wouldn’t just affect pornography, and the collateral damage would be about a 12 on the 10-level “yikes” scale. It’s less “let’s ban Pornhub” and more “your TikTok got deleted and you have a court date because the word ‘breast’ was detected in the video thanks to your Breast Cancer Awareness Month t-shirt.”
Here’s why this matters: trans and queer people are already facing rising hostility, discrimination, and violence. This bill would add legal penalties for their very existence online, and the mental health toll alone would be catastrophic. When already vulnerable groups are told “you’re criminal for existing,” the rate of people in those groups attempting suicide inevitably spikes. Laws like the one proposed in Michigan can (and frequently do) inspire copycats in other states. The national conversation around online speech, Section 230, and obscenity definitions can easily be warped by bills like this one. This isn’t just some fringe local issue—it’s a blueprint for how culture wars bleed into policy.
If this bill passes in Michigan, then porn disappears in that state, moaning is officially on the outs, and trans people are digitally erased. Freedom of speech, online safety, and basic dignity—the right for trans people to exist online—are all up in the air while this bill is still on the table. So… what’s it gonna be, Michigan? Cause this lady moans, and I’d hate to get caught on the wrong side of the handcuffs.
