Utah Legislative Panel Stages Peculiar Anti-Porn Hearing

Utah Legislative Panel Stages Peculiar Anti-Porn Hearing

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah legislative panel last week — convened by GOP state lawmakers following a campaign of disinformation by conservative activists — culminated with misleading pronouncements about the supposed availability of “obscene material harmful to minors” in educational databases in the state, and with a call to press criminal charges against the makers of those databases.

According to a report by the Salt Lake City Tribune, conservative activists rang the alarm that “pornography” could be accessed in Utah’s public schools. This shock tactic caught the attention of a number of Republican state representatives pushing an ongoing agenda of suppressing sexual expression online, in particular Rep. Travis Seegmiller.

Seegmiller told the Judiciary Interim Committee meeting Wednesday that “I want to state unequivocally here, on the record: Obscene material harmful to minors exists in our Utah public schools today on a widespread basis, accessible through a variety of methods or channels for even our smallest, youngest children to access. I confirmed with my own eyes that this is true today."

But a closer look at the supposed scandal reveals that Seegmiller and the conservative activists were not talking about widespread search engines or the open internet. They were very narrowly referring to curated databases for in-school reasearch that have been previously scrutinized after similar complaints.

Peter Bromberg, executive director of the Salt Lake City Public Library, told the Salt Lake City Tribune that “claims of pornography on these platforms are simply false and part of a campaign by conservative activists to censor information that they personally find distasteful."

Bromberg explained that “the databases in question contain scholarly journal articles and mainstream media publications... and teachers use them to train students in proper research methods.”

“This is a walled garden of safe, curated information, and it’s an invaluable tool for teachers,” Bromberg, who also co-chairs the Utah Library Association’s advocacy committee, added.

"Much of what these advocates are claiming is pornographic actually doesn’t fit the legal definition of the term," Bromberg added.

When Everything is 'Pornography'

The problem here — as in other relentless, well-funded, religiously motivated campaigns — is that the groups pushing for political intervention have an extremely radical, incredibly overbroad definition of “pornography,” which often includes magazines like Cosmopolitan or Sports Illustrated, or any mention of human sexuality outside of a religious context.

The Utah Education Network, which provides these databases to public schools, had already wasted time trying to find any “pornography” on these educational databases, among them EBSCO Information Services.

The organization’s board members even decided preemptively in 2018 to temporarily block access to EBSCO Information Services “as they examined claims that pornography was present on the platform,” the Salt Lake City Tribune Reported.

“However, meeting materials from 2018 show that staff members at the Utah Education Network combed the database using explicit search terms and keywords provided by parents who claimed they’d found inappropriate material," the article continues. "They weren’t able to replicate the searches that had allegedly returned the pornographic content, according to a staff report from the time.”

All they found was “one article with a black-and-white line drawing of breasts and genitals, the report stated. EBSCO immediately filtered out the article upon request.”

Seegmiller’s hearing on Wednesday featured a string of misinformation and deliberate exaggeration by the likes of  anti-porn crusader Nicholeen Peck, president of the socially conservative Empowered Families Coalition, who told the lawmakers “parents across Utah have discovered pornography, promotion of illegal drugs and alcohol and material normalizing pedophilia on educational databases that public school students use when doing research.”

“My computer is full, chock-full, of these images," Peck said, and also offered to share screenshots with lawmakers upon request.

A Made-Up Public Health Crisis

Peck is one of the masterminds of the infamous 2016 state resolution declaring that “porn is a public health crisis.” That resolution resulted in a copycat pseudo-legislative campaign throughout the U.S. that resulted in time and resources being diverted from preparation for an actual public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other speakers at Wedensday’s meeting included Sen. Todd Weiler, a Woods Cross Republican who has worked with Peck on censorship efforts and sponsored the made-up “public health crisis” resolution.

Michelle Boulter, a member of the Utah State Board of Education and co-founder of activist group Gathering Families, told the legislators that “one of her relatives was exposed to pornography at school and developed an addiction during his teen years.”

There are no scientific grounds for the religiously inspired concept of “porn addiction.”

“The reality is, these databases are not safe, and children are finding pornography,” Boulder said. “And I hope that we will become proactive rather than being reactive.”

Representative Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, told the meeting that “honestly, I think we oughta drop the fear of God into some of these database providers. That if you’re going to put that kind of stuff out in front of our kids, you’re going to spend some prison time. And the state of Utah is going to pay for our filters by shutting your company down.”

This threat of criminal prosecution echoes a recent bill where Utah attempted to force a warning label on any adult content anywhere online that could be accessed from Utah, under criminal penalty.

Main Image: Utah Representative Travis Seegmiller

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 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

Streamster Launches 'Tip2Peep' Camera-Switching Feature

Live-streaming software provider Streamster has launched Tip2Peep, a new feature that allows viewers to switch between multiple webcam viewing angles by tipping the creator.

Tyler Wu Guests on Chaturbate's 'Sex Tales' Podcast

Tyler Wu is the latest guest on Chaturbate’s “Sex Tales” podcast, hosted by Melissa Stratton and Vanniall on the company’s “Camming Life” YouTube channel.

Fleshy to Launch Interactive Cam Site 'Eromote'

Male pleasure brand Fleshy has announced that it will launch an interactive, bidirectional cam site next month called Eromote.

XBIZ LA Show Introduces New 'Crib Crawl' Feature

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the 2025 edition of its flagship conference, the XBIZ Show, will debut a brand-new feature: Crib Crawl, offering attendees the chance to meet and greet representatives from leading brands and organizations in dedicated suites at the host venue.

Pre-Nominations Now Open for 2025 TEAs

The pre-nomination period for the 2025 Trans Erotica Awards (TEAs) is now open.

Byborg Invests $22.35M in PLBY Group

Luxembourg-based Byborg Enterprises SA is investing $22.35 million in Playboy parent company PLBY Group.

Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Texas AV Law in January

The United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Free Speech Coalition's challenge to Texas’ age verification law to take place Wednesday, Jan. 15.

2025 XBIZ Exec Awards Nominees for Online Industry Announced

XBIZ is pleased to announce the nominees for the online industry edition of the 2025 XBIZ Exec Awards, set to be presented as part of the annual XBIZ Honors ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 15 in conjunction with the XBIZ 2025 conference.

Project 2025 Leader Claims Big Tech Companies 'Deliberately Fuel Pornography Addiction' Among Men

Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts published on Wednesday the text of a speech in which he persists with his past claim that “predatory Big Tech corporations” are “deliberately fueling pornography addiction” among young men.

FSC Petitions 10th Circuit for Review of Utah AV Dismissal

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) on Wednesday petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to review a decision handed down earlier this month by a three-judge panel of the same appeals court, which denied FSC the right to challenge Utah’s controversial age verification law by suing state officials.

Show More