Who’s Behind Age Verification Legislation?
It’s difficult to pinpoint a single source, but a variety of religious and ultra-conservative organizations have proposed and advocated for these laws in states across the US.
Center for Renewing America is a religious extremist organization created by Project 2025 architect and Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought. It aims “to renew a consensus of America as a nation under God” by banning pornography, stripping rights away from transgender Americans, and outlawing abortion in all circumstances.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center is a far-right religious group “working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contemporary questions of law, culture, and politics” by “restricting the production and dissemination of online pornography” and attacking the human rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Family Policy Alliance is the political advocacy arm of Focus on the Family, a designated anti-LGBTQ hate group that promotes gay conversion therapy, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and Christian Nationalism. The allience is composed of a network of 41 state chapters nominally supporting pro-family policies.
The Institute for Family Studies is a think tank that promotes heterosexual marriage and “traditional” family structures through ideologically-driven research, political commentary, and public education campaigns.