A pornography bill that would force the makers of computers and phones to block all porn unless buyers pay a tax of $20 has been circulating in various forms in states across the country. The bill is being pushed by a particularly notable weirdo named Chris Sevier.
The Daily Beast has been following the work of Sevier for some time because of his bizarre antics attacking gay marriage by attempting to marry a computer. Twice. In 2016, they wrote of his two attempts to draw a line of comparison between gay couples wedding and his love for his 2011 MacBook:
In 2014, former Tennessee lawyer and Christian electronic dance music producer Mark “Chris” Sevier filed a motion in Florida arguing that if same-sex couples “have the right to marry their object of sexual desire… then I should have the right to marry my preferred sexual object,” in this case his “porn-filled Apple computer.”
The motion was dismissed, of course, but Sevier is back again with a new Texas lawsuit demanding that he be granted a 14th Amendment right to wed his laptop.
As the Houston Chronicle reports, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has already asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that “the right to marry one’s computer is not an interest, objectively, deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition.”
Though seemingly flippant, Sevier has enough money or influence to get some of notions taken seriously by legislators. Alabama discussed HB 428 in early April, sponsored by Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills. AL.com reports that the bill demands every internet-connected device filter “block child pornography, obscene material, sexual cyber-harassment and promotions of prostitution,” a notion that sounds good theoretically, but representatives from the ACLU say the law would violate the First Amendment.
“The notion that you have to jump through some hoops as an adult to access free information on the internet violates the First Amendment,” said legal director Randall Marshall, “This is censorship, plain and simple.”
The same bill was proposed in South Carolina in December of 2016, by Rep. Bill Chumley, according to KTVN.
In 2013, he sued Apple for selling him a computer (presumably the same Macbook he attempted to marry) without pre-installed pornography filters, which he claims led to an addiction and the dissolution of his marriage to an actual woman. The complaint stated, “The Plaintiff began desiring, younger more beautiful girls featured in porn videos than his wife, who was no longer 21.”
The Daily Beast spoke with Sevier about his reputation as a provocateur, and also a very checkered past, which includes being charged with stalking a country star named John Rich, an event that led to a bizarre interview with Fox News in 2013:
Also:
...Sevier has a warrant out for his arrest in Tennessee for failure to appear at criminal contempt proceedings. Sevier had failed to pay child support and violated a restraining order by communicating with his former wife. The restraining order stems from Sevier’s 2011 arrest and conviction for assaulting his father-in-law during a fight over a visitation rights of his then-7-month-old son, whom Sevier tried to take during a supervised visit. Sevier’s baby was also injured in the altercation and taken to the ER.
Sevier explained away the long list of allegations against him by saying he was “subject to a fake prosecutorial campaign,” partly due to his Christian faith. “I don’t give a damn about what anybody thinks about me,” Sevier told The Daily Beast, “I know all about what fake news is. I know all about how courts can be abused.”
You can and should read the entire piece about Sevier here.