Staff Reports
The Michigan legislature recently pulled a fast one on conservatives by passing a bill that could imprison folks for simply refusing to use someone’s “preferred” gender pronouns. House Bill No. 4474 managed to inch its way through the state House of Representatives with a vote of 59 to 50. Now, brace yourselves folks, because it’s heading to the Michigan Senate, which is packed to the gills with Democrats. If this bill somehow survives the Senate, it will land on the desk of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who can’t seem to get enough of these radical, left-wing ideas.
Let’s take a closer look at the nitty-gritty details of this monstrosity. The bill states that if you intentionally harm someone’s feelings by using an incorrect pronoun, you could be charged with a hate crime. Because nothing screams equality like throwing someone in the clink for a linguistic slip-up. Can someone please tell these lawmakers that it’s called freedom of speech, not freedom of preferred pronouns? It’s like they’ve forgotten that the Constitution actually exists.
Michigan legislature creates a felony for referring to a person by the wrong pronoun – People will just start calling someone by their last name so no pronoun is needed. https://t.co/ps6jHJ6wgq
— Becca Buono (@becca_buono) July 3, 2023
Of course, the bill helpfully provides a long list of “characteristics” that could lead to these charges. We’ve got race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and of course, gender identity. The cherry on top is the definition of “intimidate,” which basically says that if someone feels scared or threatened by your words, boom, you’re a criminal. So now, not only do you have to walk on eggshells with your words, but you also have to be a mind reader to avoid offending anyone.
Naturally, this blatant attack on free speech has critics up in arms. Professor Emeritus William Wagner hit the nail on the head, saying that this bill is just another weapon the left can use to crush conservative expression. It’s clear that the goal here is to silence anyone with a different opinion, particularly those of us on the right who cling to our conservative values like they’re made of solid gold.
And let’s not forget the punishment these lawmakers are proposing for those who have the audacity to offend someone with an incorrect pronoun. These thought police want to slap you with a felony, potentially shoving you behind bars for up to five years or mugging you of your hard-earned cash with a fine of up to $10,000. All because you used the wrong pronoun? What’s next? Will they come after us for using the wrong emoji? It’s a slippery slope, folks.
Unfortunately, with the Democrats controlling every nook and cranny of Michigan’s government, it seems likely that this bill will become law soon enough. It’s just another example of the left’s willingness to trample over our rights in the name of progress. But let them pry our freedom of speech from our cold, dead hands because we won’t back down. The Constitution doesn’t have an asterisk next to free speech, and it certainly shouldn’t be erased by a bunch of woke politicians.
Source: Conservative Institute
