Michigan House Democrats Pass Bill to Make Using ‘Wrong’ Pronouns Finable Up to $10,000

Michigan House Democrats passed legislation that would make intimidating someone by intentionally using their unpreferred gender pronouns a felony, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for no more than five years.

House Bill 4474 is part of a package of bills that would replace Michigan’s Ethnic Intimidation Act with expanded protection for individuals on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. 

As Breitbart News’s Hannah Bleau reported:

The legislation specifically states that an individual is guilty of a “hate crime” if they “intentionally” do “any of the following to an individual based in whole or in part on an actual or perceived characteristic of that individual listed under subsection (2), regardless of the existence of any other motivating factors.” It includes using force or violence, causing bodily injury, damaging or destroying property, or threatening or “intimidating” said individual based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity “or expression,” physical or mental disabilities, age, ethnicity, national origin, or association with an identified group.

However, the proposed law is very general, as it essentially asserts that one can be guilty of committing a “hate crime” for making an individual merely “feel” intimidated. Many have pointed out the dangers of the generalization, as far-left activists have often accused conservatives of exhibiting “hateful” behavior for speaking out against allowing biological males to use women’s restrooms and changing rooms or compete in women’s sports, for example.

According to the legislation, the act of intimidation itself involves the “willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or  threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.”

Hypothetically speaking, an individual could “feel” intimidated or harassed, for example, for being called by the wrong “preferred pronoun.”

House Bill 4474 passed the Michigan House by a 59-50 vote, and it will now move to the Democrat-controlled Senate. If passed, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is expected to sign it. 

Michigan Rep. Angela Rigas (R) criticized House Democrats for “allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a ‘protected class.’”

“This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives,” Rigas added. “We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on ‘conversion’ therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.