Fight for the Future

LETTER: Massachusetts LGBTQ organizations band together to fight censorship legislation, ask MA lawmakers to protect life-saving resources

To the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation,

We are a newly formed coalition of Massachusetts-based organizations that advocate for the rights and safety of the LGBTQIA+ community. Many of us recently helped organize the “Queers Against Censorship” event at The Midway in Jamaica Plain, MA, which was sold-out and attended by dozens of your constituents.

We are writing to urge our elected officials here in MA to publicly oppose dangerous and misguided legislation that threatens to censor and suppress lifesaving online resources for queer and trans youth and other vulnerable members of our community.

This includes:

  • The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would give the Trump administration extraordinary new power to force social media platforms to censor LGBTQIA+ content and resources, by falsely claiming it causes minors to become “depressed” or “anxious.” Hundreds of parents of transgender children (including 106 from Massachusetts) have begged Congress to oppose KOSA and advance more thoughtful legislation to address Big Tech harms.
  • Age verification or “online ID check” laws that would force Internet users to upload their government ID or submit to invasive and discriminatory biometric scans in order to access lifesaving resources and information online. This includes the SCREEN Act and the App Store Accountability Act.
  • Misguided attacks on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act including Senator Dick Durbin’s bill to “sunset” this key protection for online free expression. Gutting Section 230 would allow states with extreme right wing legislatures to criminalize online content about abortion, gender affirming care, and anything that the Trump administration doesn’t like. States like Texas have already introduced legislation to threaten websites and online content from abortion access organizations. 

We do agree with efforts to hold Big Tech accountable, including bills championed by Massachusetts lawmakers like last Congress’s Algorithmic Justice and Transparency Act, the Safe Sex Worker Study Act, the Ban Surveillance Advertising Act, the Open App Markets Act, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, and the My Body My Data Act. These bills represent efforts that are more carefully targeted to avoid both unintended consequences as well as the intentional erosion of the rights of marginalized communities by the far right.

We would be happy to meet to discuss our concerns and lived experiences, especially over the August recess where more of our members can participate here in the state. We appreciate your historic support of our communities and only ask that that support does not end when it becomes politically inconvenient.

Signed,

Fight for the Future

HELP by AMG 

III Labs 

Lavender Education

The Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

TQNC

Trans Resistance MA

Transgender Emergency Fund of MA