1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I'm writing to follow up on my previous letter supporting H.R. 987, the Fair Access to Banking Act, and to urge you again to support this vital legislation, especially in light of the recent purge of legal adult and queer content from the game storefront Itch.io. Reports indicate that Itch.io has removed numerous games, many of them small-scale, artistic, and community-driven, due to payment processor pressure, rather than legal concerns. These are not exploitative or harmful works. They are created by independent developers, including queer artists and marginalized voices, often using their platforms to tell stories that mainstream publishers won’t touch. This kind of financial censorship, where lawful expression is stifled simply because it is controversial, misunderstood, or deemed reputationally risky, is exactly what H.R. 987 is meant to guard against. When payment processors or financial institutions can arbitrarily pull support, entire livelihoods and cultures are erased in silence. And once again, it is LGBTQ people, sex workers, artists, and online subcultures like furries who are disproportionately targeted. While much of the conversation around this bill has focused on industries like fossil fuels or firearms, I urge you to also see its relevance to the vulnerable creators who live and work at the intersection of art, queerness, and digital commerce. These communities have long lacked institutional backing and rely on platforms like Itch.io and Steam to survive, and when those platforms are coerced by financial providers, the harm is often invisible and irreparable. H.R. 987 offers a necessary protection by requiring large financial institutions to assess clients using objective, financial risk-based standards, not political pressure or social backlash. I believe this bill can be a step toward safeguarding freedom of expression, especially for those whose voices are most often silenced. Please support H.R. 987. Now more than ever, we need legislation that ensures fair access, not just for the powerful, but for the marginalized too. Thank you again for your service and for listening to the concerns of constituents like me.