Michigan‘s House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, which criminalizes causing someone to feel threatened by words, including the misusing of their pronouns, with the possibility of a hefty fine or even jail time.
The bill introduces hate crime penalties for causing someone to ‘feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,’ with ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity or expression’ included as protected classes.
Offenders could face up to five years in prison for such a felony offense or a $10,000 fine.
It is part of a continues effort by Democrats in the state to advance a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda in their first months in power.
The proposed legislation aims to replace the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and extends protection against intimidation.
Critics argue that the bill poses a threat to First Amendment rights and lacks clarity in defining ‘harassment’, leaving it open to subjective interpretation.
The bill reads as follows: ‘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.’
If passed, penalties would be based on how the supposed victim and court ‘feel’ about a particular matter.
What constitutes as being deemed ‘intimidation and harassment’ would be up to the interpretation of the listener and a local prosecutor.
Critics argue that the legislation could infringe on free speech rights and undermine the principles of due process.
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