1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

Once again, your colleagues are trying to make KOSA a thing. I am writing to urge you to vote against KOSA. I get it, protecting kids sounds great. Who would want to vote against the "Kids Online Safety Act?" It sounds about as wholesome as the Patriot Act. As with the Patriot Act, there are glaring problems with KOSA: 1. There is no way to protect minors from viewing certain content without verifying the identity of every internet user. 2. I do not want my government ID tied to everything I look at on the internet. The government does not belong in my browser. 3. Republicans have already said they consider the existence of LGBT+ people to essentially be "pornographic." 4. KOSA would essentially act as a way to censor LGBT+ people on the internet under the guise of "protecting children." 5. LGBT+ youth have a demonstrably higher suicide rate than their cis- and heterosexual counterparts. Positive adult LGBT+ role models have been shown to help reduce the rates of LGBT+ suicide. 6. Rather than protecting all kids, KOSA gives the government tools to censor what websites are allowed to host on the internet. 7. Your Republican colleagues have already indicated they plan to "censor" LGBT+ content, which will cause more suicides among LGBT+ youth. Parents already have tools for limiting their children's access to adult content on the internet. I would wholeheartedly endorse more funding to educate parents about how to use these tools (for example, classes could be offered through local library systems or the school system.) However, I don't want the government to censor information available on the internet under the guise of "protecting children." I value my freedom of speech and privacy.