Kansas bill requires ID to view material 'harmful to minors,' including 'acts of homosexuality'

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The Kansas legislature has passed a bill that requires age verification to view "material harmful to minors," which includes "acts of homosexuality."

The Kansas state legislature has passed a law that will require age-verification on websites that host content deemed "harmful to minors."

Under Kansas criminal law, material "harmful to minors" includes nudity and "sexual content," which is defined in part as "acts of masturbation, homosexuality, or sexual intercourse."

The new age-verification bill requires users to share their government-issued identification in order to view adult content. Websites can be fined up to $10,000 for each instance a minor accesses their content, and parents are allowed to sue for damages of at least $50,000.

This means that the state can "require age verification to access LGBTQ content," according to attorney Alejandra Caraballo, who said on Threads that "Kansas residents may soon need their state IDs" to access material that simply "depicts LGBTQ people."

This could theoretically apply to family-friendly media with queer characters, LGBTQ+ charities and community resources, or even medical websites that include information on gender and sexuality. Such websites could soon be forced to block access to young users — cutting off their access to vital resources and information — or face hefty fines.

Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard, who is gay, told the Associated Press that "acts of homosexuality" being deemed as "harmful to minors" means that “being who we are” is considered as "harmful to minors." He added that those pushing the restrictions don't know "how technology works," as age-verification measures are often easy to circumvent.