LA Representative Laurie Schelgel steps into “The Corner” to discuss the Age Verification law currently before SCOTUS.

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
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5. 0:15Delivering people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be His ambassador.
8. 0:24Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28And now the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:32Good evening, everyone.
12. 0:34Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
13. 0:36My name is Abraham Hamilton the third.
14. 0:38And we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition
15. 0:41of the program.
16. 0:42We got some new folks in studio with us.
17. 0:44The quarterback of the AFR production department
18. 0:49is in today.
19. 0:51Jeff is out for the moment.
20. 0:53I haven't given him a fancy nickname yet.
21. 0:54I got to work on it, John.
22. 0:58We also have your friendly neighborhood.
23. 0:59would a holic perpetually recovery aiding us with the video for today's edition of the program
24. 1:05where we are grateful that you have once again welcomed us into your hearts, into your homes
25. 1:10or your cars. Because right now at this very moment many of you, if not most of you are making
26. 1:14your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income to your full time jobs
27. 1:20where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality
28. 1:26because what goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the White
29. 1:30House.
30. 1:31In fact, we're going to talk a lot about that during today's program.
31. 1:35I want to ask you to stick with us for the whole program because things are happening
32. 1:40in the country that you need to be aware about.
33. 1:42There was a critical case that went before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday oral arguments
34. 1:48took place on Wednesday.
35. 1:50The decision concerning this matter will be released sometime.
36. 1:52expecting it to be released sometime in June, but this is something you need to be aware
37. 1:58of. And it really goes right down to what is happening in our homes. There are a lot of
38. 2:05things we can give attention to. There are a lot of things happening all over the world.
39. 2:09You know, as I said to you guys on Wednesday as well, I wasn't too comfortable with that
40. 2:16so-called peace deal. And apparently, in either words, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because
41. 2:22He has expressed his object into it and frankly, frankly,
42. 2:26when it all comes down to it was a deal that was more favorable to
43. 2:29Hamas that allowed Hamas an opportunity to rebound, which, you
44. 2:34know, last I checked the objective that Israel had.
45. 2:38Objective number one, secure the hostages returned to their homes.
46. 2:42Objective number two, decimate Hamas.
47. 2:47Those objectives must be pursued.
48. 2:50But before we get into any of those things and all of the foolishness,
49. 2:54du jour, I want to spend some time in the Word of God as we do on a daily basis,
50. 3:00because it is imperative that we have our hearts and minds framed according to the
51. 3:04Word of God before we endeavor to navigate the issues of the day.
52. 3:08When we're talking about your, what goes on in your home being more important than
53. 3:11what goes on in the White House, it's vitally important that we understand
54. 3:15ministry is supposed to start at home.
55. 3:18Ministry is supposed to start at home.
56. 3:20The first human institution that God established was the family with marriage at the center.
57. 3:26Husbands, your first ministry responsibility is your wife before you get to anything else.
58. 3:30Wife, your first ministry responsibility is your husband before you get to anything else.
59. 3:36I know we have people who listen to the program who are in all various walks of life.
60. 3:41And this is not to ignore or to denigrate your particular station in life because God knows exactly where you are.
61. 3:49But there is a prevalent portion of our society who are in
62. 3:55Mayor to unions and don't understand the significance that God places on family and how that should inform our engagement in the society around us
63. 4:03Husbands and wives your first ministry responsibility as a couple before you get to anything else
64. 4:10Is your children if you have children still in your home?
65. 4:13That is first
66. 4:14It's very easy to allow these primary responsibilities to be neglected if we are not intentional in pursuing
67. 4:21them. And so among the things that I want to encourage you to do today, the first of them,
68. 4:27in addition to your personal commitment and devotion to the Lord in your personal time with him,
69. 4:31is to let today be the day to where you lead your home in family devotions.
70. 4:36Father's, lead your family and worship. If that doesn't have to be complicated,
71. 4:40It doesn't have to be long.
72. 4:41You can literally spend some time singing a hymn and simply read a portion of Scripture.
73. 4:48And in doing so, communicate the significance and the primacy that the Word of God and worship
74. 4:54of God plays in your family's lives.
75. 4:57We will never as a society be able to out-politik or even out-church deficiencies that abound
76. 5:03in the home.
77. 5:05cannot afford to allow the home to be neglected, ignored, and reduced to tertiary consideration.
78. 5:12Know your full-time jobs, just like my full-time job, is outcome cultivation.
79. 5:18Income generation is part-time.
80. 5:20God knows we need resources to live, but that is not our identity, nor should it consume
81. 5:24us as if it is our exclusive or primary responsibility.
82. 5:28The secondary, outcome cultivation is our primary responsibility.
83. 5:33To the word of God we go.
84. 5:34Colossians chapter three is where we're going to go.
85. 5:36Colossians chapter three, verses one through five.
86. 5:41Just a couple of things I want to mention
87. 5:42and I have mentioned before,
88. 5:43this is an epistle of the Apostle Paul,
89. 5:46but it is a unique one because the Apostle Paul
90. 5:49didn't plant the church at Colossae
91. 5:51as that concept is commonly understood.
92. 5:53In fact, the labor of a man by the name of Epaphorus
93. 5:57is what led to the birthing of the church,
94. 6:00of a church in Colossae.
95. 6:02Colossae is located in the southwest portion of what is modern day Turkey.
96. 6:08All right, real city at a real time.
97. 6:10And the epistle was written at about 62 AD in the first century.
98. 6:16All right.
99. 6:17And so Paul is writing to a community of people,
100. 6:21a community of believers who are not necessarily steeped in the history of Yahweh worship.
101. 6:32But what happened as we understand it,
102. 6:35Epaphras heard the gospel proclaimed,
103. 6:37the Lord opened his heart to salvation,
104. 6:39and Epaphras went back to his hometown
105. 6:41and shared what God was doing in him.
106. 6:43And by God's sovereign grace through Epaphras' testimony,
107. 6:47the Lord opened the hearts of others in Colossae
108. 6:49and the church was formed.
109. 6:52Well, understanding that this was a largely Gentile area,
110. 6:56steeped in first century Roman culture,
111. 7:00Paganism, frankly, including, including,
112. 7:04how shall I say this personal ethics
113. 7:07or the lack thereof?
114. 7:10And it is in, with that in mind that the Apostle Paul
115. 7:13pins the words I'm going to read to you now,
116. 7:15if then Paul is writing.
117. 7:16Colossians chapter three, I don't know if I said that yet.
118. 7:18Colossians chapter three verses one through five.
119. 7:21If then you have been raised with Christ,
120. 7:25seek the things that are above where Christ is,
121. 7:30seated at the right hand of God.
122. 7:32Set your mind to some translations there will say, set your affections on things that are above,
123. 7:37not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
124. 7:45When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory,
125. 7:54put to death therefore what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
126. 8:04and covetousness, which is adultery.
127. 8:08The Apostle Paul goes on in the same chapter
128. 8:11to articulate the phenomenon, putting off the old man,
129. 8:16putting on the new man, identifying various areas
130. 8:19of the flesh where the Lord requires us as believers in him
131. 8:23to agree with him in the sanctification process
132. 8:25to where we will fully agree to put away the things
133. 8:31that are earthly, but I wanna go back to the beginning.
134. 8:34So Paul is presenting in verse one, this as a rhetorical device.
135. 8:38He's not asking the question as if he doesn't know the answer.
136. 8:41If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above.
137. 8:45He's presented that rhetorically to the Colossian believers.
138. 8:47If you have been raised with Christ, then you no longer are obligated to live life
139. 8:53according to the fleshly plain exclusively.
140. 8:56No, you have to capacity now being in Christ to seek those things which are
141. 9:00above the universe to set your mind.
142. 9:06What King James says, set your affections.
143. 9:08The Greek word there is fronnao, which that one word includes the intellectual
144. 9:14capacity and the emotive capacity.
145. 9:17That's why some translation say minds.
146. 9:19King James says affections.
147. 9:21It's really both all in one word.
148. 9:23But the phenomenon of Paul is articulating is that now that you are in Christ,
149. 9:27You are no longer of the first atoms, lineage or bloodline, but you have been transmuted, if you will,
150. 9:34into the bloodline of the second atom. So now you have the will with all as a result of being
151. 9:39indwelled by the Spirit of God to do something that you never could have done before.
152. 9:44Now you have the ability to set your Fronnéo, your mind, your intellectual capacity,
153. 9:50and your emotive functioning. You get to set it as opposed to being set by it.
154. 9:55If we are in Christ brothers and sisters, we are no longer casualties of a mind that runs
155. 10:03to and fro, but we can direct our minds in a God honoring and a God ordered manner.
156. 10:11Set your Fronéo, your mind, your affections.
157. 10:16Verse 3, for you have God in your life is hidden with Christ in God.
158. 10:23Paul goes on then to verse 5, in light of all of this, because you are in Christ, because
159. 10:27you have been raised with him because you had to wear with all as a result of being indwelled by the
160. 10:30Spirit of God where you can set your mind, set your affection, set your franéo, then look at verse 5,
161. 10:37put to death, therefore. Or some translations say, mortify, therefore, what is earthly in you.
162. 10:47One of the major things that is kind of a point of contention and I think people misunderstand this
163. 10:51very well, very frequently I should say, is that God has not called the believer, let me say it this
164. 10:58this way, God has called the believer to mortify the flesh,
165. 11:02not to manage it, not to manage the flesh.
166. 11:06We shouldn't establish, you know, a comfortable quantity
167. 11:10or a comfortable modicum of fleshliness
168. 11:13where we're okay living with, you know?
169. 11:15Yeah, we know it's wrong, but you know,
170. 11:16God is full of grace, you know, using grace,
171. 11:19as Jude pointed out, as a justification for licentiousness.
172. 11:24See, one of the key factors and key indicators
173. 11:27of us being in Christ and born again
174. 11:30is that our sin bothers us,
175. 11:34that we're not comfortable with it,
176. 11:36we're not okay with it.
177. 11:38We don't come up with comfortable justifications
178. 11:40and excuses for allowing sin to run rampant over our lives.
179. 11:45And I don't want anybody to misconstrue what I'm saying.
180. 11:46I'm not an advocate for some heretical doctrine
181. 11:48of perfectionism.
182. 11:49Being in Christ doesn't mean that you become
183. 11:52instantaneously or perpetually sinless.
184. 11:56But being in Christ does mean that you sin less.
185. 12:00One of the major features being captured by Christ
186. 12:03is that our own sin is grievous to us.
187. 12:07We mourn our own sin, we lament our own sin,
188. 12:11which drives us towards repentance.
189. 12:13But many have used grace as an excuse or justification
190. 12:17to become fleshly, flesh managers to where,
191. 12:25we'll gossip.
192. 12:27You know, I'm just informing my friends.
193. 12:30No, that's gossip.
194. 12:32When you talking about people that are now physically present,
195. 12:35that's gossip, it's gossip.
196. 12:40You running it out.
197. 12:41Oh, I just want to make sure Jonathan is informed.
198. 12:44By the way, Jonathan, did you know?
199. 12:49And on the conference side, we got lots of people that's nosy.
200. 12:52I'm not just trying to be like, to messy talk,
201. 12:55but these are things, these are terms we use, nosy,
202. 12:59beginning to make sure everybody's up to date, up to speed.
203. 13:02But those are euphemism that cover, send.
204. 13:08Gossip would tear a local assembly apart,
205. 13:11would tear a family apart.
206. 13:15One, just helpful tactic,
207. 13:21if the person is out there,
208. 13:22it's probably best that you don't talk about it.
209. 13:25If you're not talking to them,
210. 13:26you're probably better not to talk about them.
211. 13:30That's just one indication.
212. 13:32Of course, I'm going beyond that,
213. 13:36but I'm using it as an example
214. 13:38of kind of a managerial disposition concerning sin
215. 13:41that people are content with.
216. 13:43But Paul said, put to death, therefore,
217. 13:45what is earthly in you?
218. 13:46And at the very beginning of when he begins to tick off earthliness, he says,
219. 13:51sexual immorality, the Greek term there is poor naya to where we get our English
220. 13:57word pornography from the condemnation of the rejection of poor naya includes
221. 14:03obviously fornication and adultery, but not only that, given our eyes to things,
222. 14:12that we should not Paul goes on impurity, passion, evil desire, evil concupuses.
223. 14:18Word, passion is from the Greek term,
224. 14:21akatharsia, akatharsia, which is inordinate affection.
225. 14:24See, Christ came not only to conform our conduct,
226. 14:27but to change the attitudes and intentions of our heart,
227. 14:29not merely to conform us at a behavior level,
228. 14:31but for us to reflect His glory at a desire level.
229. 14:37We have that ability in Christ.
230. 14:39Simply put, Christ has not called His body,
231. 14:42His members of His body to manage flesh.
232. 14:45He's called us to mortify it.
233. 14:47And this is something that we are invited
234. 14:49to agree with him, join him in doing actively, put to death what is earthly within you.
235. 15:22Jesus, then consider giving us a visit at AFAStream on Roku or at stream.afa.net.
236. 15:29Shiting light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Corner, an American family radio.
237. 15:41Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III here.
238. 15:44And I am delighted to have on the program with me a person.
239. 15:47She might not know I'm going to say this, but I can describe her as a home girl because
240. 15:51she's from my neck of the woods.
241. 15:53I am talking about Representative Lori Schlegel,
242. 15:56who is the state representative
243. 15:58in the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 82.
244. 16:02Representative Schlegel is the chairwoman
245. 16:05of the House Education Committee for the 2024 to 2028 term.
246. 16:09She's also vice chair of the women's caucus.
247. 16:11She's a licensed professional counselor
248. 16:14in Old Jefferson, Louisiana,
249. 16:16and who lives in the Metery area.
250. 16:19She has a master of arts and marriage and family counseling
251. 16:22from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary,
252. 16:24where she earned a 4.0 GPA.
253. 16:26She also is a graduate,
254. 16:27Magna Cum Laude graduate from Louisiana State University,
255. 16:30also known as LSU,
256. 16:32Gold Tigers.
257. 16:33And she is also a summa cum laude graduate
258. 16:39from Dominican High School in New Orleans.
259. 16:41And I was talking to her before we got on the air.
260. 16:42If you're not from New Orleans,
261. 16:43you don't know why it's important to put high schools
262. 16:45in your bio.
263. 16:46But if you're from New Orleans, you know,
264. 16:48and now you, you know, representative Schlegel,
265. 16:50Thank you so much for joining me here on the Hamilton Corner.
266. 16:53Thank you so much for having me on.
267. 16:55It is truly my pleasure for a host of reasons,
268. 16:59but one of the main reasons that just Wednesday,
269. 17:02the Supreme Court heard oral arguments
270. 17:04in a case concerning age verification laws that
271. 17:08are necessary in order for minors to access pornography.
272. 17:14And what the objective of the laws are,
273. 17:17and I'm saying laws plural, because you
274. 17:20let a move that resulted in 18 additional states following Louisiana's
275. 17:23lead to adopt a law that seeks to protect minors from, frankly, the
276. 17:31smut that is online. So I want to take a take a little bit of time to
277. 17:35invite you to just educate us on one, what is the age verification law that
278. 17:41was passed in Louisiana that you helped that you really pioneered that
279. 17:45work in Louisiana. And then two, I want to ask the question about your
280. 17:48motivation? What drove you to pursue this legislation?
281. 17:53Sure. So I was elected in a special election in 2021. Was it
282. 17:59really planning on running for office? But the opportunity
283. 18:02presented itself into Iran and one. And it was that year. So I
284. 18:09am a licensed professional counselor. I'm also a certified
285. 18:11sex addiction therapist. So that's what I do my professional
286. 18:14life. I help people who are struggling pornography and
287. 18:17compulsive sexual behavior was never planning at all right out of the gate to tackle an issue like this.
288. 18:24But it was December of 2021 and I was I was reading an article about Billie Eilish and she was on
289. 18:33Howard Stern's show and she was hearing with him that since 11 years old she had been watching
290. 18:38pornography and it really negatively impacted her life and I was just so struck by a young woman of
291. 18:44of her stature having a conversation of Howard Stern no less
292. 18:48on the negative effects of pornography.
293. 18:50And so it just struck me and I was like,
294. 18:52you know what, I wanna look at this issue.
295. 18:55So, but I knew that, you know, obviously we had,
296. 19:00the laws that had not been allowed
297. 19:01to ever take us back to age verification
298. 19:03because they did attempt to do this
299. 19:05in the 90s and the early 2000s.
300. 19:06So I went on a search to see if the technology
301. 19:10was available that you could give somebody's course age
302. 19:14without giving any kind of identifying information.
303. 19:16Because I wanted to make sure, you know,
304. 19:18we protected people's privacy because I promise you,
305. 19:21I care more about people's privacy
306. 19:23than the porn industry does.
307. 19:24And so I went on a search and found out,
308. 19:28so a few years before I came into the legislature,
309. 19:31they had passed what's called LA Wallet.
310. 19:33And that's Louisiana's digitalized ID.
311. 19:37It's not run by the government.
312. 19:38It's our third party vendor has the access to be able to use.
313. 19:43So now, like on our phones, we have a digitalized ID.
314. 19:46And so I went to them and I said,
315. 19:47hey, is it possible for you to remotely verify somebody's age
316. 19:51and just give the course age,
317. 19:52not even give the birth aid or how old they are,
318. 19:55just that yes, they're over 18.
319. 19:57And they said, yes, it's possible.
320. 19:58So when I knew that that was possible,
321. 20:01I then went to consult with constitutional lawyers
322. 20:04because I know when you're dealing with pornography,
323. 20:06you're dealing with the First Amendment.
324. 20:07And so I wanted to make sure, is there a path
325. 20:09that we could not make it unduly burdensome to adults
326. 20:13to access their First Amendment rights, but then also protect minors.
327. 20:18And so, yeah, that led to drafting HB 142, which what it does is it prevents minors from
328. 20:28entering pornography sites.
329. 20:30And because right now, and we know now the average age is between 10 and 12 that people
330. 20:36see early exposure to pornography.
331. 20:40So now it kind of blocks miners from accessing, but it allows adults to access their first amendment
332. 20:47rights. And so that was HV142.
333. 20:51Now, I mean, and I said to you off the air that the simple facts are, and this, some of this information
334. 20:57may be startling for people to hear, but pornography is destroying our country. It is wreaking havoc
335. 21:06in families, you know, I am, I would challenge anyone to find a more pro-life person than
336. 21:13me.
337. 21:15And what the not so secret secret is that the overwhelming majority for the intentional
338. 21:22slaughter of unborn children, we have murders for convenience and is connected, frankly,
339. 21:29to sexual immorality, generally speaking.
340. 21:31Not, of course, there are exceptions.
341. 21:32I don't want to paint over-broad.
342. 21:34And I've shared on this program the reasons from like the Guttmacher Institute, why moms
343. 21:39made the decision to murder their unborn children.
344. 21:43And the majority of the top five of the six reasons are all convenience reasons, not ready
345. 21:48to have a child, you know, other things.
346. 21:51You don't get to the whole notions of incest, you know, rape and things of that nature.
347. 21:57And that represents less than, you know, 1% of the quantity of children was slaughtered,
348. 22:04but it's connected to sexual immorality when you see this and this is going to be astounding
349. 22:09for people.
350. 22:12But the top three pornography sites in the United States of America receive more web traffic
351. 22:17annually than Netflix, Amazon, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and TikTok combined.
352. 22:25combined, combined. And as you rightly pointed out, many people are being caught up in this
353. 22:34as adolescents, as reading, learning your background in bio as a licensed professional counselor in
354. 22:41your professional life. You've had circumstances where you've treated children, the youngest being
355. 22:47eight years old. Would you share a little bit about that experience? Obviously, when I was going
356. 22:50into the details of your treatment, but just the reality that this is wreaking havoc in the lives
357. 22:55of children in our country?
358. 22:56Yeah, so what we know like conclusively,
359. 23:00research shows that pornography is harmful to kids.
360. 23:04So we know that.
361. 23:05And what they're seeing, and I say it,
362. 23:09and it's interesting because one of the Supreme Court justices
363. 23:12yesterday sort of alluded to the same sentiment,
364. 23:15is that this isn't your daddy's playboy.
365. 23:17What our kids are seeing are hardcore pornography,
366. 23:21you know, topics of gang bang, rape, um, teen sex, what they're seeing is not what a lot
367. 23:29of people think when they think of pornography, especially depending on what kind of generation
368. 23:33you grew up in. And so we know that it's harming kids and we know that they can just literally see
369. 23:40it by clicks away. It takes seconds to access this material and the pornography websites don't block
370. 23:46it whatsoever when it comes to minors. And so that was also part of when I passed
371. 23:53HB 142 because I knew I needed the body to be educated around it and what our
372. 23:58kids are actually seeing and how it's harming them. And so it's not seen as
373. 24:02some partisan issue, you know, since I am a Republican and at the time we had a
374. 24:06Democratic governor. And so what I did is I had Gail Dimes who is a expert in
375. 24:12pornography, come and talk to the women's caucus that a webinar where we invited all of the senators
376. 24:19and the state reps to come and hear of like what are they actually seeing.
377. 24:25And so I remember after that, there were so many people who were like, I want to support
378. 24:29you in this, I want to be a co-author.
379. 24:31I mean, we had 48 additional co-authors, Republicans, Democrats, it passed them unanimously in our
380. 24:37legislature did pass unanimous in the senate
381. 24:40because once you really understand what our kids are staying
382. 24:44how with harming them
383. 24:45you can't sit back and do nothing
384. 24:48and i think a lot of people are not aware
385. 24:50uh... that just because we have elected officials they're not experts in
386. 24:53everything
387. 24:54and so there's often
388. 24:55uh... the educational effort that has to take place in order to get them on
389. 24:59board
390. 25:00to be able to support a particular measure
391. 25:02and so in terms of educating you know the louisian legislature
392. 25:06uh... the thirty nine state senators and i believe a hundred forty four state
393. 25:10representatives
394. 25:11uh... was that process a challenging one for you was the webinar
395. 25:14uh... and the luncheon that you host is sufficient or what was what was it like
396. 25:18uh... educating the body concerned that this issue before your bill made it to the
397. 25:21floor
398. 25:23yet so we had on the webinar we had mail female raps and on senators we had
399. 25:29african-american
400. 25:31so
401. 25:32and i remember to
402. 25:33So some of our female senators who are part of the minority party, I remember when Gail
403. 25:40Don's was even talking about how even just inherently racist a lot of the pornography is.
404. 25:46You know, it just opened people's eyes to actually what our kids are seeing and how it
405. 25:52really does change how they view sexuality.
406. 25:55Because a lot of research shows that 90% of the mainstream pornography shows some aggression
407. 26:02towards women. So this is what our boy, little boys and girls are growing up seeing because
408. 26:08now the internet, I mean with the iPhone and the iPad, it's just changed. Where now, like
409. 26:14even if you put filters on your devices at home, your kids are exposed to so many other
410. 26:20devices, you know, and that's where the filtering, while I think is part of the, you could put
411. 26:27this as part of the solution has not prevented our kids from accessing
412. 26:32pornography and that's why I felt like AIDS verification was now the most
413. 26:38effective and least restrictive to be able to protect our children. In terms of
414. 26:43the things that you've seen in your own practice helping people navigate this
415. 26:46particular area including even like children or early exposure, what are
416. 26:51some of the examples you can maybe enlighten our audience with in describing
417. 26:55how it's detrimentally shaped the perspectives of children who exposed to this stuff?
418. 27:02Yeah, so a lot of the research shows, and again, because I like to make sure people know
419. 27:07it's grounded, not in just my opinion, but there is research that has conclusively shown
420. 27:13this.
421. 27:14I mean, it can affect with anxiety and depression.
422. 27:17And so, like I said before, what the research has conclusively shown, so it's not even just
423. 27:23my opinion or my experience is that material home from minors, pornography does harm our
424. 27:29kids and in ways of anxiety, depression, how it shapes their sexuality, in boys for aggression
425. 27:36and girls may be more likely to become a victim of sexual assault.
426. 27:41And so we know that it's really harmful to children and that's why I think you're seeing
427. 27:47so many states come in and try to stand up for their children.
428. 27:51Yeah, and it's important to note, I mean, Louisiana was first, but then, you know, Utah, Mississippi,
429. 27:58Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, I have the list right here, Montana, North Carolina, Idaho,
430. 28:04Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Indiana, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee,
431. 28:09Georgia have all passed legislation similar to what was passed in Louisiana.
432. 28:13And so what can we deduce from the fact that not only did your colleagues in the state
433. 28:20legislature in Louisiana moved by what you presented to educate the body but
434. 28:24legislatures across the country are recognizing these same problems. Yeah and
435. 28:28so I say what it does is it underscores how big the problem is because unfortunately
436. 28:33in today's political climate you don't see Republicans and Democrats joining
437. 28:37the gathered to solve issues but on this one we are and in most of the states they
438. 28:43all passed by partisan and if you recognize on how short of a time that
439. 28:4718 other states have passed these laws because it was in 2023 in January when our law became
440. 28:54enacted and that's sort of when the whole nation sort of heard about.
441. 28:57And that's when the nation started to learn about this issue, right?
442. 29:01That's correct.
443. 29:02Someone actually tweeted on January 1st, I guess they went to Caporn Hub and that's when
444. 29:07they had the landing page that now they were doing age verification.
445. 29:12So that is noteworthy because, as you mentioned,
446. 29:15they had to put this new thing on their landing page.
447. 29:19I know in other states, they stopped allowing their smut
448. 29:24to be accessed in those states
449. 29:25because of this law, is that right?
450. 29:29That's correct.
451. 29:30So actually on their landing page,
452. 29:31it says how it takes less than one minute,
453. 29:34for obviously a minor to be blocked
454. 29:36for and then for an adult to access
455. 29:38all the pornography in the world.
456. 29:40So it's not on Dooley Burnes, some to adults,
457. 29:42And that's the argument that we made.
458. 29:44But afterwards, yes, Pornhub decided to pull out
459. 29:47of all the other states that have enacted age verification.
460. 29:50I guess they decided to switch a strategy.
461. 29:52What are some of the penalties that can be imposed
462. 29:56as a result of the law that you led to get passed in Louisiana?
463. 30:01So they have two parts, so a private right of action.
464. 30:04If a parent wanted to bring up upon a lawsuit
465. 30:07to a company that's not complying.
466. 30:09And then we also have AG enforcement,
467. 30:11which will be civil penalties for each day
468. 30:14that a company's not doing of age verification.
469. 30:17And so like these large vernographers are making the decision,
470. 30:22they're doing business decisions to avoid violating
471. 30:26the law frankly and having to pay these pretty significant
472. 30:29fines that pile up day by day,
473. 30:31they're deciding just to withdraw
474. 30:33or to comply with the law, right?
475. 30:35That's correct.
476. 30:36And so text is enforcing their law
477. 30:39because obviously their law was upheld at the Fifth Circuit.
478. 30:42ours is still at the district court level.
479. 30:45And my understanding is that AG Paxton has brought some lawsuits
480. 30:49to some of these companies that were not complying in his state.
481. 30:51So it's working.
482. 30:54What it shows, actually all of our states
483. 30:56is what it shows it's working.
484. 30:58In our state where the largest pornography website,
485. 31:02Pornhub is complying, it's blocking minors from accessing it.
486. 31:05And then they also made the choice to withdraw.
487. 31:08but that is their business choice.
488. 31:10That is not a choice that we're banning
489. 31:12Pranagavana, that's sort of the narrative
490. 31:14that some of the pornography advocates are saying,
491. 31:17but no, that was their choice to pull out of these states.
492. 31:20And it's just, and I know,
493. 31:21and I'm not asking you to comment on this,
494. 31:23but there was a time in our nation's history,
495. 31:25and it just indicates how things have changed,
496. 31:27because previously, obscenity laws prohibited this stuff,
497. 31:29but then you had later litigation,
498. 31:31and then you had Supreme Court President Changes.
499. 31:34And so now, as you mentioned earlier,
500. 31:36It's described within the ambit of First Amendment rights.
501. 31:39And the simple fact is just because something is legal
502. 31:42doesn't mean that it's lawful before God.
503. 31:44I'm not asking you to comment on that,
504. 31:45but I'm just saying that's just a simple reality.
505. 31:47And we have to have a recalibration in our society
506. 31:51to where we recognize when things have an outside
507. 31:54deleterious impact on everyone,
508. 31:57when we stray from God's standards, we suffer harm.
509. 32:03You're listening to the Hamilton Corner.
510. 32:05My guest is representative Lori Schlegel, district 82 representative for the House of
511. 32:10Representatives in Louisiana.
512. 32:12Thank to her pioneering work, 18 states follow Louisiana's lead in passing laws to protect
513. 32:18minors from online smut.
514. 32:20We want to continue this conversation on the other side of the break.
515. 32:23Stay with us.
516. 32:37The Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Minute Commentaries are available at eFR.net back to
517. 32:43the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
518. 32:47Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton III here with my guest representative,
519. 32:51Lori Schlegel from the Louisiana State Legislature, the House of Representatives District 82s,
520. 32:58representative.
521. 32:59We're having a conversation about the AIDS verification law that she pioneered in Louisiana.
522. 33:04Other states follow suit thereafter.
523. 33:06Texas' law is being litigated as we speak at the U.S. Supreme Court.
524. 33:12Oral arguments took place Wednesday in this case.
525. 33:16So I wanted to ask this question, knowing that there are 19 states that have these laws
526. 33:20on the books currently.
527. 33:23The case before the Supreme Court has styled free speech coalition versus Paxton, is the
528. 33:28Supreme Court hearing Texas' case alone or have they somehow consolidated all the other
529. 33:33states' measures in their address of the Texas legislation?
530. 33:37Yeah, the Supreme Court is hearing Texas' case alone.
531. 33:42All of the other states, there are different levels of the court system.
532. 33:45I know ours is still at the district court level, Tennessee, I think is already at the
533. 33:49pellet level.
534. 33:50So different states are at different phases, I guess, in the court system.
535. 33:55So free speech coalition, which is really don't let the name.
536. 33:58Right.
537. 33:59So you're because it really just is the porn industries trade association.
538. 34:03Yes.
539. 34:04So it's just Texas's case was heard yesterday at the Supreme Court.
540. 34:09What are the arguments that are being asserted by, like you mentioned, the Smutt Pedalers
541. 34:17Trade Union's lawyers, what are the arguments that they're asserting in order to stop this?
542. 34:23Because you would think, oh, yeah, well, maybe not.
543. 34:27I was about to say, you would think they would understand that we don't want to hurt children,
544. 34:31right?
545. 34:32But not so much, I'm sure.
546. 34:34Well, you know, and they give lip service to that actually at the court hearing, they
547. 34:38said that the government does have a compelling interest to protect children from this material
548. 34:42that is very harmful to them. So they do admit that. They just don't think it's their responsibility
549. 34:49to do anything to protect minors from entering their sites. They stand behind the First Amendment,
550. 34:55so they stand behind that pornography is free speech. And when you're dealing with any of
551. 34:59our rights, and you should, I mean, these are constitutional rights. And so when you're dealing
552. 35:05with any rights and specifically for speech, they believe that the standard of review is
553. 35:10strict scrutiny.
554. 35:11So, it should be looked at as, you know, with the most amount of scrutiny.
555. 35:16And so, what we say, just like, you know, brick and mortar stores when you go and buy a playboy,
556. 35:22that you have to show your ID to prove that you're not a minor.
557. 35:24And so, it's not some unduly burdens and things for adults to do.
558. 35:28And now with today's technology, it's changed since some of these federal laws that dealing
559. 35:33with age verification in the 90s and the early 2000s dealt with.
560. 35:37I mean, now, like I said, before, you can do anonymous,
561. 35:41course-age verification without getting in,
562. 35:44kind of identifying information so nobody knows who you are.
563. 35:48It only knows that you're over 18
564. 35:49and that you're allowed to look at this material.
565. 35:53And I'm not asking you to comment on this.
566. 35:55This is Abe speaking here.
567. 35:56The concept that this smut is speech is absurd.
568. 36:01If you look at the precedent beforehand,
569. 36:02And what happened was there was a shift in the perception of the American public largely,
570. 36:08not that there was a change in legal status and all of that, because we've had obscenity
571. 36:13laws.
572. 36:14We still have obscenity laws.
573. 36:17But to say that this is speech, it's a far cry.
574. 36:20But I'm not asking you to comment on that.
575. 36:21I know you are expressing what is the current recognized legal standard by starry decisis
576. 36:26and all these other types of things, which is why the Smut Petalur trade unions lawyers
577. 36:31are making these arguments is because of what had happened before, but there was a time in
578. 36:35America's history where we recognized we had our collective competence in recognizing, man,
579. 36:41this is ridiculous.
580. 36:43But what happens, what happens invariably as drift occurs, societies drift in a particular
581. 36:51direction, then you end up having laws that reflect that.
582. 36:54Now, putting that aside for the moment, that was a little mini A brand, sorry about that,
583. 37:01put it at a side for the moment with this particular case in the oral arguments on Wednesday,
584. 37:08what were your perceptions of the oral arguments and the justices' responses to the arguments
585. 37:14presented by both sides?
586. 37:16Yeah, so overall my impression is I thought the majority of the justices were sympathetic
587. 37:21to the state's plight to protect kids online from pornography and just how the technological
588. 37:26land state that looks nothing like it did 20 years ago when the when the last
589. 37:30Supreme Court on age verification was decided. And so I definitely got that
590. 37:35impression and it's interesting and I know you're calling it smut. I was very
591. 37:39surprised actually one of the liberal justices actually referred to it as smut.
592. 37:44And that actually caught me a little off guard just because I wasn't expecting it
593. 37:48from one of the liberal justices. But I did get the overall feeling and even
594. 37:53justice Barrett who is a mother and she talked about how it's just so overwhelming for parents
595. 37:59because there's so many devices that kids can get access to and I think she even mentioned like
596. 38:04you could see pornography on video game consoles and iPhones and I think the general impression I got
597. 38:11is that they were sympathetic to the plight and the overall impression that filtering is not the
598. 38:19least restrictive most effective because we wouldn't be where we are right now if they were.
599. 38:24And so I do, I kind of got the general impression that, you know, that maybe potentially could be a path.
600. 38:32And is it accurate to say, because this is Texas' law's hearing,
601. 38:39do you expect the Supreme Court's ruling on Texas' case to kind of put a wet blanket or to support
602. 38:46all of the other states is legislation or do you think that this is a scenario where each
603. 38:50state could have its own by the apples so to speak. I do think it could impact our cases
604. 38:56since they're all very closely modeled off of each other. I know each state sort of put their own
605. 39:01little flavor but it's still age verification but what I heard from both the petitioner and
606. 39:09Paxton they were saying look however you decide you need to give guidance right because these are
607. 39:16there are many states that are enacting these laws and that want to protect children like
608. 39:20whether whatever standard of review you use
609. 39:23you need to sort of give guidance on this on this area and so that is what i'm hoping
610. 39:29is that they will you know not just rule but also give guidance
611. 39:33mmm it'll be important because you know with each state being at a different level
612. 39:39in litigation uh you know in some even cases that have made it to the appellate level
613. 39:44having decisions rendered in one direction, it will have an outsized impact on other states
614. 39:52in their efforts to do so. Let me just say that I am just so grateful to you for taking this issue on.
615. 40:00I so appreciate, as you mentioned before, that you weren't looking to run for office.
616. 40:05You were elected in a special election, and then upon taking office, a real life problem that you
617. 40:12you were confronted with, that you sought to take advantage of your opportunity as a state
618. 40:16representative to help protect the Louisiana's children from this insanity.
619. 40:21And so I just want to tell you, I appreciate that because I know that's not easy to do.
620. 40:25You know, one of the things that we haven't even talked about is that the pornography industry
621. 40:29is one of the most lucrative industries in our nation right now.
622. 40:33And so it's a huge fight that I know that we're all kind of lobbying efforts that try to dissuade
623. 40:39you to get you off of the path and all these types of things.
624. 40:41So I just want to tell you as a father and as a husband that I appreciate your efforts.
625. 40:48And I pray that your efforts will inspire courage among others.
626. 40:52One of the greatest deficits we have in our society among people that are servant leaders
627. 40:55is a deficit in courage.
628. 40:57And so I view your actions in this particular area as courageous and I appreciate that.
629. 41:02So I just want to tell you, thank you publicly.
630. 41:04I appreciate that.
631. 41:06And look, I'm a mom and even as a legislator,
632. 41:09I just feel that I'm so passionate about kids.
633. 41:11I mean, obviously I'm the chair of House Education
634. 41:14because they are our future.
635. 41:16And I believe that we're supposed to help them
636. 41:19and raise them up to be well functioning adults
637. 41:21so we can have a functioning society.
638. 41:23And so I think any effort,
639. 41:25and I think that's why you see the whole country
640. 41:26sort of rallying,
641. 41:27because we really realize how it's really harming our children.
642. 41:30I mean, even California,
643. 41:32it actually passed out of their assembly,
644. 41:35unanimously. Now it got held up in the Senate, but I think they're going to try again.
645. 41:40Really?
646. 41:41So it's not bipartisan. I mean, it's not a, I mean, it's not a partisan issue. This is bipartisan.
647. 41:47And so it's exciting to see where we go from here because our kids have been neglected on
648. 41:54online spaces way too long with no sort of protections. And even with social media, you're
649. 41:59starting to just see states rising up and say, hey, you've got to have some protections
650. 42:03just like in the physical world that we have on other industries, you have to have some reasonable
651. 42:08protections to protect our children because it has become just so pervasive and invasive
652. 42:14the internet has.
653. 42:15Mm.
654. 42:16Considering the bipartisan nature that you were able to advance in Louisiana, have you
655. 42:21suffered any backlash or any negative effects of advance in this legislation?
656. 42:28I have not.
657. 42:31My body was like I said was very supportive of it.
658. 42:34We had over around 48 co-authors.
659. 42:38So these are people that actually put their name
660. 42:40to the bill too.
661. 42:41And so it just goes to show you.
662. 42:43I think if you're a parent, and even if you're not a parent,
663. 42:46like if you recognize what our kids are seeing,
664. 42:49you just know that it's what the harm it's doing.
665. 42:53So.
666. 42:55Representative Slagel, thank you so much for your time.
667. 42:57You have been so gracious, even helping us through
668. 43:00with the technical difficulties that we face today
669. 43:02that are quite frustrating for me.
670. 43:04I so appreciate your time and your willingness
671. 43:06to take the time to really enlighten our audience here
672. 43:10on what's happening in your state,
673. 43:12what's happening around the country in this case,
674. 43:14that's going before the Supreme Court.
675. 43:16And I pray that the Lord continues to guide you
676. 43:18and lead you, protect you and your family
677. 43:20and that you will continue to be a shining light
678. 43:23in Louisiana State legislature and beyond,
679. 43:24that's the Lord would direct your pass.
680. 43:27Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
681. 43:30All right, that was state representative Lori Schlegel
682. 43:34from district 82 in Louisiana.
683. 43:37And I just wanna present some things to you
684. 43:40because I think people underestimate
685. 43:43the insidious nature of this.
686. 43:44What's happening by and large is the smut peddlers
687. 43:48are using it and hiding behind the First Amendment
688. 43:52and encroaching upon the innocence and the development
689. 43:54of children.
690. 43:56Many of the people that are, you know,
691. 43:59smut consumers as adults,
692. 44:01it's because they started doing it as children.
693. 44:06It's because they started doing it as children.
694. 44:08I can't tell you the number of people
695. 44:09that I have talked to, they come across,
696. 44:13they're trying to look for cleats to play sports,
697. 44:15they look up Dick's Sporting Goods,
698. 44:17Dick's Sporting Goods, and then all this other craziness
699. 44:19pops up and it ensnares them at young ages.
700. 44:25Lisa Blatt, who is a veteran Supreme Court litigator at the law firm, Williamson Connolly, she made
701. 44:32this statement, quote, more people watch pornography and viewpoint each year than vote and read the
702. 44:39newspaper. More people. And I know there are a lot of you who are listening to me and you say,
703. 44:47because you don't consume this stuff, you are shocked to learn this. But I also know,
704. 44:53because of the statistics, there are some who are listening to me right now who will say, yeah,
705. 44:58Yeah, because some of you have consumed it.
706. 45:01Some of you have been delivered from it.
707. 45:03Some of you may be struggling right now.
708. 45:06There are all kinds of things I can't tell you
709. 45:08the number of times where I have counsel with people
710. 45:12and married couples and they're having difficulty
711. 45:14in their marriage because they have expectations
712. 45:18that have been established by the pornography industry.
713. 45:22And they try to bring that stuff in.
714. 45:27And it is literally contributing to the reshaping
715. 45:32our nation. If you look at the statistics, and I've said this before, if you look at
716. 45:39the history in our nation, the same Supreme Court that decided the abortion
717. 45:44case in 1973, Roe vs. Wade, is also the same Supreme Court that gave the
718. 45:53outsized protection to this industry. And if you look at those two concepts on a
719. 46:00chart, if they were to be graphed together, you will see that the ascension and the consumption
720. 46:07of illicit quote unquote adult material corresponds with the ascendance of baby murder in our
721. 46:15country.
722. 46:17Go ahead and look it up.
723. 46:20Go ahead and look it up.
724. 46:23It's the unspoken reality.
725. 46:25Many people in our churches are dealing with this now.
726. 46:31I told you about the Barnard group study that was just released in the in the 2024.
727. 46:4070% of men, 40% of women in the nation at large.
728. 46:50The numbers are also reflective
729. 46:53of the same consumption in the church.
730. 46:59Guys, sexual immorality is tearing our nation apart.
731. 47:03It's tearing our nation apart.
732. 47:06And it's going largely unaddressed.
733. 47:08And I meant it genuinely when I thanked
734. 47:10Representative Schlegel for what she's doing
735. 47:12in the state legislature, but more has to be done.
736. 47:17The scripture indicates that we are to mortify
737. 47:20what is earthly.
738. 47:21And here's the thing, God is the one who designed
739. 47:24the marital union and the physical intimacy
740. 47:28to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife.
741. 47:30But the problem is we've allowed the world
742. 47:33to almost corner the market on the presentation
743. 47:37and the discourse in this area.
744. 47:41But there must be a resurgence of the Lord's body's voice
745. 47:45in our nation as the pillar and ground of truth
746. 47:48because I'm telling you,
747. 47:49sexual immorality is tearing our nation apart.
748. 47:52and it's starting in many instances in the secrecy and isolation of consumption of pornography.
749. 47:59By God's grace, we must cry aloud in spirit not and confront the wickedness of this insanity.
750. 48:12The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American
751. 48:17Family Association or American Family Radio.