The Civic Node

This Bill Purports to Protect Kids from Big Tech. For LGBTQ+ Youth, It's a Grave Danger

4 min read

Original source

Summary

Them op-ed (July 2024) by Anna Bonesteel of Fight for the Future, written after Pride Month as 38 Democratic senators co-sponsored KOSA. Concise restatement of the FtF / Greer KOSA-opposition argument with 2024-specific updates: the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 connection; Marsha Blackburn’s explicit “from the transgender” interview quote; and the bill’s renewed evolution after multiple rounds of amendments still not fixing the duty-of-care core. Closes with first-person testimonials from queer youth aged 15-17 (Jay, Atticus, Felix, Anonymous) on what social media meant to their survival.

Key Points

  • 38 Democratic senators co-sponsored KOSA as of July 2024.
  • Project 2025 connection: Heritage Foundation coordinates Project 2025, has explicitly said they want to use KOSA to target LGBTQ+ content.
  • Blackburn quote: Said in interview she wants to use KOSA to protect minors “from the transgender.”
  • SESTA/FOSTA precedent: Same logic, broader application — KOSA expands censorship and surveillance rather than addressing corporate abuses.
  • Duty of care under KOSA as drafted: Platforms could be sued for recommending depression- or anxiety-inducing video to anyone under 18.
  • Age verification de facto required even though bill claims otherwise — “to meaningfully comply with the law, platforms will have to know who is under 18.”
  • Wyden, Pallone, Frost named as the few Democrats publicly raising serious concerns.
  • Hundreds of thousands of emails to Congress driven by queer youth and fan communities.
  • June 2024 House privacy talks collapsed — KOSA’s chances dimmed for that session.

Newsletter Angles

  • The “queer youth in their own words” piece — the four testimonials (Jay, Atticus, Felix, Anonymous) are publishable raw material for any KOSA-explainer that needs to put a face on what’s at stake.
  • Editorial hook: “Pride parade rhetoric vs co-sponsor list.” 38 Democratic senators marched in Pride and supported KOSA in the same month. That contradiction is the lead.
  • Project 2025 connection is a useful 2024-specific receipt — KOSA isn’t just adjacent to the broader anti-trans agenda, the Heritage operatives explicitly say it’s part of it.
  • Connects directly to LGBTQ Youth Are Under Attack — Why Are Democrats Pushing a Bill That Hurts Them More (Greer, Vice 2022) — same author org, same argument, two years later, more receipts.

Entities Mentioned

Concepts Mentioned

Quotes

“I am a transgender person, and when I was a preteen, looking down the barrel of the gun of puberty, I was miserable. I didn’t know what was wrong I just knew I’d rather do anything else but go through puberty. The internet taught me what that was. They told me it was okay…” — Jay, 17

“I would’ve never realized I was being sexually abused when I was 10-13 if it wasn’t for people sharing their experience with sexual abuse online.” — Atticus, 16

“Without social media, I wouldn’t have human connection. I wouldn’t have any joy.” — Felix, 15 (abusive household)

“I would be fucking dead right now if it weren’t for the stories of my fellow transgender folk out there, assuring me that it gets better.” — Anonymous, 16

Notes

Them is Condé Nast’s queer-focused publication; clearly opinion (op-ed) by an organization staffer. The framing is partisan; the testimonials are unverifiable but consistent with a large body of survey research on queer-youth internet use (see Considering Age Verification and Impacts on LGBTQ+ Youth, GLSEN Out Online report).

Three KOSA-opposition pieces in this batch from Fight for the Future authors:

These three together form the canonical KOSA-opposition arc.

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