Louisiana House Passes Religious Republican's New Anti-Porn Law

Louisiana House Passes Religious Republican's New Anti-Porn Law

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana state house on Monday passed, almost unanimously, new legislation creating more liability for adult websites, introduced by the religious Republican lawmaker behind the state’s controversial age verification law.

The house voted 101-1 to pass House Bill 77, which would “let the state attorney general pursue civil penalties against companies that do not comply with a law that requires pornography websites to verify the age of its users,” the Louisiana Illuminator reported.

Only one representative voted in opposition: Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans).

HB 77 was introduced by faith-based therapist and local politician Laurie Schlegel (R-Matairie), the anti-porn activist behind Louisiana’s controversial Act 440, which took effect Jan. 1 and requires “age verification for any website that contains 33.3% or more pornographic material.”

Schlegel believes that “pornography is destroying our children and they’re getting unlimited access to it on the internet.”

Opposing Schlegel, Rep. Landry pointed out several obvious problems with Schlegel’s proposal, including the ease with which minors could bypass any age verification system by simply using VPN technology.

Landry also raised questions about how Schlegel’s “33.3% of material harmful to minors” would be calculated, the Illuminator reported.

“Taken to an absurd level, if 80% of the page is ‘Blue’s Clues’ and 20% is pornography, is that OK?” Landry wondered. 

Rep. Matthew Willard (D-New Orleans) also voiced concern about “unintended consequences” of using Schlegel’s 33% formula, and questioned whether such a calculation would be made by the attorney general or other means. 

“I want to know how that’s determined,” Willard asked. “Is there objective criteria that is based upon?” 

HB 77 calls for “investigation and pursuit of actions for commercial entities that knowingly and intentionally publish or distribute material harmful to minors and that fail to perform reasonable age verification.”

Republicans throughout the country are currently seeking to outlaw all adult content by overturning the 1973 “Miller Test” differentiating First Amendment-protected sexual material from illegal “obscene” material produced to appeal to “a prurient interest.”

As XBIZ reported, to define “material harmful to minors,” Schlegel expanded the Miller Test reference to “sexual conduct” into her own feverish fantasy of what such content might entail.

For the religious therapist and Republican politician, "sexual conduct" apparently involves “prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion” and “an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact, actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual acts, or lewd exhibition of the genitals.”

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Against 'Debanking'

The White House on Thursday issued an executive order limiting financial institutions’ ability to restrict access to financial services for people or groups involved in lawful industries, a longtime goal of adult industry advocates and stakeholders.

Go.cam Launches Free Age Verification Solution, Anti-Fraud Features

Go.cam has announced that its age verification solution is now free with updated anti-fraud and identity protection features.

Florida AG Sues EU-Based Adult Companies for Failing to Age-Verify Users

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit Monday with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida against five EU-based adult companies for allegedly failing to require age verification before allowing access to adult content.

SkyPrivate Launches 'Telegram Pay-Per-Minute' Feature

SkyPrivate has launched a new pay-per-minute (PPM) private show option on Telegram.

Pineapple Support to Host 'Money and Mental Health' Online Event

Pineapple Support is hosting a free, online event to help performers balance financial wellbeing with mental health, Aug. 18-19.

Arcom Warns 5 Adult Sites Over Age Verification

French media regulator Arcom has sent enforcement notices to the operators of five adult websites that the agency says have failed to implement age verification as required under France’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law.

MojoHost Debuts NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Hosting

MojoHost has announced the launch of NVIDIA Blackwell-powered hosting featuring RTX 6000 Pro MaxQ GPUs.

FSC: Identity Theft Targeting Adult Performers

The Free Speech Coalition has put out an alert warning of an individual found to be targeting adult performers for identity theft.

Assylum.com Implements New Age Verification System

Assylum.com has introduced an age verification system across its member sites.

European Commission to Assess Pornhub, XVideos, XNXX Compliance With Digital Services Act

The European Commission plans to conduct a study to determine how well adult sites Pornhub, XVideos and XNXX are addressing illegal content and other potential harms under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Show More