Minnesota Family Council has been advancing legislation for the past couple years to require digital pornography companies to employ age verification to gatekeep their websites from minors. We have secured bipartisan support for the bill in the Minnesota Senate.

Cashiers checked identification in the past when a young person attempted to purchase a pornography magazine or movie. This age-gating protection unfortunately did not carry over into the digital world, where most porn is consumed today.

In recent years, half the states in the country have passed laws which require porn companies to age-gate users. Companies can comply in a variety of industry standard ways, often redirecting the potential user to a third-party age verification provider to check age before signaling to the porn company whether the potential user is over 18 or under 18.

Hearing, February 19, 2026: In the bill's first hearing in House Commerce Finance and Policy, committee member Rep. Leigh Finke argued that kids might need access to this content because no queer Sex Education is taught in schools. After much discussion and debate, the bill was tabled, meaning that it is not currently advancing to its next committee stop.

We continue to lobby for the advancement of this bill.