Porn site xHamster blocks North Carolina users to protest anti-LGBT law
North Carolina has faced widespread outrage after passing a law that requires transgender people to use public restrooms based on the genders listed on their birth certificates, while also prohibiting new anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community from being passed. Several companies and entertainers have already pledged to boycott North Carolina, and there's now one more to add to the list: the porn website xHamster, which is blocking users in the state from viewing porn until the controversial law is repealed.
As reported by The Huffington Post, North Carolina visitors to the popular site were met with a black screen early Monday afternoon, which xHamster plans to replace with a petition to repeal the law, a spokesperson for the site told the Post.
"We have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality for everyone and these laws are discriminatory which xHamster.com does not tolerate," the spokesperson said in a statement to the Post. "Judging by the stats of what you North Carolinians watch, we feel this punishment is a severe one. We will not standby and pump revenue into a system that promotes this type of garbage. We respect all sexualities and embrace them."
Boycotts have proven to be a popular form of protest against the legislation, with Bruce Springsteen recently canceling a concert in the state to protest the law and PayPal ending its plans to open a global operations center. But although the technique is often used for purposes such as copyright protection, denying users content in the United States as a form of political protest is something seen far less often.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/11/11410956/porn-site-xhamster-north-carolina-block
http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/11/11410956/porn-site-xhamster-north-carolina-block
North Carolina has faced widespread outrage after passing a law that requires transgender people to use public restrooms based on the genders listed on their birth certificates, while also prohibiting new anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community from being passed. Several companies and entertainers have already pledged to boycott North Carolina, and there's now one more to add to the list: the porn website xHamster, which is blocking users in the state from viewing porn until the controversial law is repealed.
As reported by The Huffington Post, North Carolina visitors to the popular site were met with a black screen early Monday afternoon, which xHamster plans to replace with a petition to repeal the law, a spokesperson for the site told the Post.
"We have spent the last 50 years fighting for equality for everyone and these laws are discriminatory which xHamster.com does not tolerate," the spokesperson said in a statement to the Post. "Judging by the stats of what you North Carolinians watch, we feel this punishment is a severe one. We will not standby and pump revenue into a system that promotes this type of garbage. We respect all sexualities and embrace them."
Boycotts have proven to be a popular form of protest against the legislation, with Bruce Springsteen recently canceling a concert in the state to protest the law and PayPal ending its plans to open a global operations center. But although the technique is often used for purposes such as copyright protection, denying users content in the United States as a form of political protest is something seen far less often.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/11/11410956/porn-site-xhamster-north-carolina-block
http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/11/11410956/porn-site-xhamster-north-carolina-block