Politics and Money

[lesgetrich]

I agree that some people's preference for uncommon pronouns borders on silliness but I don't see it as an issue that justifies legislation. On the other hand, the Michigan bill serves a legitimate purpose in regulating hate speech that could be interpreted as threatening physical harm to someone. Right wing media has distorted and sensationalized the bill and its original intent...

Michigan residents face five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for using wrong pronouns

Michigan's House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, criminalizing the use of hate speech.

This means that if anyone uses words causing someone to feel "terrorized, frightened, or threatened", including using a gender pronoun the "threatened" person does not identify with, they could end up with jail time.

The bill lists "sexual orientation" and "gender identity or expression" as protected classes.

Offenders could face up to five years in prison for committing such a felony offense. They could also be slapped with a staggering $10,000 fine.

The bill reads: "'Intimidate' means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened."

The bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House 59-50. It is now set to move to the Michigan State Senate for further reading.

It would be signed into law by the Democratic state Governor Gretchen Whitmer if it passes.

Penalties would be based on how the victims and court would "feel" about individual cases.

State Rep. Emily Dievendorf told CBS News Detroit: "We know that at this time in history, extremism is on the rise. But also, our hate speech has translated into hate actions that put our most vulnerable populations at risk."