The Hate Crimes Bill, Critical and Long Overdue.
It has been more than ten years since Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence, beaten and left to die on a cold Wyoming night because he was gay. Since then his mother has been fighting for LGBT people to be afforded hate crimes protection.
According to FBI data, in 2007 there were 1,512 hate crimes against LGBT people. However since many cities and states don’t collect such data and even actively discourage reporting the figures are certainly much higher. Furthermore given that passage of anti-gay legislation leads to surges in anti-gay hate crimes, the figures for 2008 will undoubtedly be higher. In one CA county alone (Santa Clara) , hate crimes against gay people went from 15% in 2007 to 56% in 2008, which the DA attributed to the passage of Proposition 8.
2008 saw several high profile anti-gay hate crimes including:
*Angie Zapata, who was brutally beaten to death with a fire extinguisher when her partner discovered she was transgender.
*Lawrence King, a gay boy who was gender non-conforming, shot and killed in school by a classmate.
*Jose and Romel Sucuzhanay went to a church party and stopped at a bar afterward. They were viciously beaten by three men who hurled anti-gay and anti-Latino slurs at them. They’re just two of the many non-LGBT victims of homophobia. (Jose and Romel are brothers.) Anti-gay bigotry harms everybody, not just gay people.
Of course the usual suspects are feeding their minions, and the public, vile lies about hate crimes protections for LGBT individuals. Take this propaganda piece from Matt Barber, mouthpiece for Liberty Counsel, the legal group dedicated to protecting the “right” of the RRRW to run roughshod over the nation.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) have quietly re-introduced the federal thought crimes bill, H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. As has proved to be true in both Europe and Canada, this Orwellian piece of legislation is the direct precursor to freedom killing and speech chilling “hate speech” laws. It represents a thinly veiled effort to ultimately silence – under penalty of law – morally, medically and biblically based opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. The bill is expected to be marked up Wednesday before the full House Judiciary Committee.
Notice Barber makes these outlandish proclamations about the law and expects you to take him at his word. He calls it a “thought crimes” law when it is in actuality a “hate crimes” bill. He goes on to proclaim it will lead to the Bible and Biblical beliefs being outlawed. That’s all pure fabrication of course as there is nothing remotely of the kind in the law. Of course I don’t expect you to take me at my word. Read the bill yourself.
According to the latest FBI statistics, in 2007 there were about 1.4 million violent crimes committed in the U.S. Of those, only 1,512 were reported as “hate crimes” motivated by “sexual orientation” bias. Over two thirds of those were allegations of “hateful” words, touching, intimidation, pushing or shoving. There were a mere 247 cases of aggravated assault (including five deaths) allegedly motivated by “sexual orientation” bias nationwide. In each case, where appropriate, offenders were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and victims were afforded the exact same justice guaranteed every other American.
Let me play the Matt Barber’s game so you can see how vile it really is:
According to the latest FBI statistics, in 2007 there were about 1.4 million violent crimes in the US. Of those, only 1,628 were reported as “hate crimes” motivated by “anti-religious” bias. And a tiny fraction of those alleged victims–137 individuals–were “Christians”. They should really stop whining.
Why do they always try to make it a numbers game? Do they realize how depraved and heartless they sound by saying “only” so many GLBT people got brutally attacked/killed last year so they don’t warrant attention or protection?
BTW, when Matt Barber claims LGBT people are afforded the exact same protection every other American is afforded he fails to mention that he is afforded hate crimes protection based on the fact that he is a Christian. Funny how he always fails to mention that. The federal government and nearly every state in the union affords people hate crimes protection based on religion, race, ethnicity, disability and a host of other attributes. And if Barber considers hate crimes legislation “thought crimes laws” why isn’t he screaming for them all to be eradicated?
So, if proponents of H.R. 1913 are neither justified nor motivated by an actual need for the bill – as clearly demonstrated – then what drives them? The answer is twofold. First, passage of “hate crimes” legislation would place the behaviorally driven and fluid concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” on an equal footing with legitimate, neutral and immutable “suspect class” characteristics such as skin color or a person’s true gender.
What about that protected “religion” class? People join and leave religions every day–Christians capitalize on this fact by proselytizing and sending out missionaries. People gain and lose faith in god(s) from minute to minute. If anything is fluid it is faith and religion. Religion is clearly a choice, and not in any way immutable, yet it is protected by federal and state hate crimes statutes.
Or is Matt Barber suggesting religious individuals, by his own criteria and logic, not have hate crimes protections?
This creates both a sociopolitical and legal environment wherein traditional sexual morality officially becomes the new racism. Those who publically express medical, moral or religious opposition to the homosexual lifestyle are tagged by the government as “homophobic bigots” to be treated no differently by law enforcement, the courts or larger society than the KKK or neo-Nazis.
Is Matt as obtuse as he seems to be or is he just hoping his audience will buy that insanity? “The Government” doesn’t care if you want to call gay people perverts, say we’re disgusting and proclaim that we deserve to burn in hell forever compared to morally pure Christians. After all the KKK and Neo-Nazis haven’t been shut down and still spew their hateful rhetoric as much as they want to. Rest assured, anti-gay bigots, you’ll still be able to preach all the homo-hating bile you want to even when the hate crimes bill is passed. All the hate crimes legislation will do is provide appropriate punishment if you commit a violent crime against one of us. If you can’t determine the difference between saying mean things and violent crime go back to school–real school–and get learned.
HRC has a new site, Fight Hate Now, dedicated to making H.R. 1913 a reality. Of special importance is their refutation of the myths and lies about the hate crimes bill. Fight Hate Now is a perfect companion to End the Lies, another HRC site dedicated to exposing RRRW anti-gay propaganda for what it is.
Also, Mike Tidmus deftly debunks the ever popular “They’ll put pastors in prison” lie. Be sure to read it so you can refute the lying liars who try to spread it.
This is not about special rights for LGBT citizens. It is about LGBT citizens having the same hate crimes protections people have based on race, religion, ethnicity, disability and other characteristics. It is about fairness and equality under the law.
Please take action. Send e-mails, and letters to your elected officials. Ask your friends and family to do the same. Make sure the lies and propaganda of the RRRW don’t win yet again. Make sure H.R. 1913 passes for the good of everybody.
