Maine Democrat to Introduce Age Verification Bill Next Year

AUGUSTA, Maine—A state lawmaker in Maine wants to introduce age verification legislation in the next legislative session in a bid to require users to verify their age to access pornographic websites.  The only thing that's different is that the lawmaker is a Democrat Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt of South Portland, to be exact. According to the Bangor Daily News, Reckitt intends to submit a proposal based on an age verification measure signed into law in Louisiana by the Democratic governor there, John Bel Edwards. Reckitt, an anti-porn feminist, will be siding with far-right religious conservatives to restrict access and potentially censor First Amendment-protected forms of speech. Adult entertainment industry firms and advocacy groups have sued in several states in attempts to block age verification statutes and render these laws unconstitutional.  Rep. Reckitt was the state lawmaker who successfully introduced partial decriminalization of sex work in the state but to much criticism by sex workers' rights groups. The groups accused Reckitt of implementing the so-called Nordic model of regulating sex work, which decriminalizes the providers of sex work but still criminalizes the purchasers of sex. One of the common positions held by sex workers' rights groups is that the Nordic model does very little to improve conditions and that only full decriminalization and eventual legalization are the solution.  AVN reported on Reckitt's success in implementing the Nordic model earlier this year.  Maine Gov. Janet Mills, also a Democrat, signed the Nordic model bill into law over the summer.