Reddit Users Report Bible Websites Under VA Age Verification Law

RICHMOND, Va.—Reddit users from Virginia and elsewhere—out of protest and humor—are now reporting sites like Bible.com and Christianity.com to the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares for violating the state's age verification mandate that took effect on July 1. Similar to other age verification measures proposed and implemented across the country, this measure requires a website to verify an individual's age to access content deemed inappropriate and pornographic to minors.  It’s no secret that the Holy Bible and other religious texts feature sexually explicit passages. “I encourage everyone to file consumer complaints to the Virginia Attorney General about websites that are failing in requiring age verification before accessing pornographic material as required by the new laws,” explains a post on the subreddit r/Virginia, per reporting by Insider.  The user provides a consumer complaint link available on Attorney General Miyares’ website. In a Reddit post, a user going by u/KoolDiscoDan links directly to several Christian websites that prominently feature passages from the Bible that are sexually explicit. The user refers to readings from Ezekiel 23:20 from various translations of the holy text, ranging from the New King James to the Evangelical New International Version.  In Ezekiel 23:20, the Holy Bible reads: “There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.”  “This pornographic material can also be accessed unfettered,” reads the same Reddit post, pointing to other sites with Bible translations posted prominently. As of this writing, the post has over 2,000 upvotes. Replies to u/KoolDiscoDan’s post feature additional jokes from users. One user commented that they are “going to report Virginia.gov [because] we got tits on our flag.” This is reminiscent of an angry parent in the Davis School District, in Davis County, UT, using a recent ban on “pornographic books” in schools to see the Bible removed from school library selves. The Freedom From Religion Foundation protested the ban on pornographic books in Utah by running a full-page ad in the Salt Lake Tribune calling for the Bible to be banned along with the Book of Mormon–a religious text central to the theology of the LDS Church, which dominates Utah conservative politics. Levity aside, the issue at hand is the broad scope of the Virginia age verification law, Senate Bill 1515. AVN reported on this age verification law as being another carbon copy of a statute that Louisiana implemented in January.  Aylo, the parent company of Pornhub, formerly called MindGeek, geo-blocked Virginia IP addresses from accessing their portfolio of adult tubes and paysites due to the lack of clarity in the statute. Now, Texas is due to be the next and most populous state in the union to require age verification to access adult content on the internet. Subsidiaries of Aylo have sued the state of Texas to block their age verification law from entering force later this week, September 1, on grounds of being unconstitutional. Aylo’s subsidiaries are joined by the adult entertainment industry trade organization, the Free Speech Coalition, and parent companies for various other adult websites. Virginia Mercury reported last week that most of the top adult tube sites on the internet are still accessible from a local IP address with no requirement to submit users to age estimation or other types of verification. Only xHamster.com has age-gating implemented, while Pornhub.com can only be accessible by a VPN or proxy. This is the same case for porn sites in Utah. Utah was the first state geo-blocked by Pornhub’s parent company and was the first jurisdiction to witness the state government get sued by porn companies, consumers, and activists in a federal district court. On August 1, the lawsuit filed against officials in the administration of Republican Gov. Spencer Cox was dismissed on technicalities. The federal judge outlined that the Utah statute is what is known as a “bounty law.” AVN also reported Utah’s so-called age verification bounty law blocks state officials from enforcing the law and relies solely on the initiative of private citizens to sue in courts as the enforcement measure. Critics of the law argue that this makes it harder for firms and consumers to challenge the law's constitutionality until a private civil enforcement action is issued. Virginia’s law is unclear as to how violators will be punished. The language implemented by Senate Bill 1515 only states that companies that don’t comply are subject to “civil liability.”