According to House Resolution 180, sponsored by Ohio Republican State Rep. Jena Powell, pornography is a public health hazard that must be stopped.

Her resolution blames porn for all of the following:

Human trafficking

A sexually toxic environment

Rape

#MeToo

Child sexual abuse

The hypersexualization of adolescent and prepubescent children

Low self-esteem

Problematic sexual activity

Body image disorders

Negative impact [on] healthy brain development and functioning

Emotional and physical illnesses

Deviant sexual desires

Harmful sexual behaviors and addiction

Difficulty in forming or maintaining positive, intimate relationships

Risky sexual behaviors

Extreme degradation

Decrease in young men to marry, pursue intimacy, or engage socially

Dissatisfaction in marriage

Infidelity

A detrimental effect on the family unit

Almost all of that is quoted verbatim. Which makes you wonder what the hell kind of porn they watch in Ohio…

It’s also laughable to think Republicans seriously give a damn about these things considering their open support of alleged rapist and sexual assaulter Donald Trump and their tacit support for alleged child predator Roy Moore.

The people sponsoring this bill, as you might guess, have support from the Christian Right:

[The Citizens for Community Values] reports that 15 states have passed similar resolutions. CCV said it worked with the National Decency Coalition to help Powell draft the resolution. The National Decency Coalition also campaigns for displaying “In God We Trust” in public classrooms, making sure public schools and libraries have adequate online filtering tools, and keeping internet porn from being accessible to children.

We could have an honest conversation about porn addiction. We could talk about how people can be filmed without consent and how that needs to be prevented. We could (and should) talk about how the sex in porn isn’t realistic.

But to treat all porn as evil — and all viewers as people who have or will soon have serious problems — is baseless and ignorant.

A similar bill was passed earlier this year in Tennessee.

Because it won’t change any laws, there won’t be any lawsuits over the resolution, but it still sends an important message: You can’t trust Republicans to treat traditionally taboo topics with the seriousness and honesty they deserve.

(Screenshot via YouTube. Thanks to Brian for the link. Portions of this article were published earlier)

