The Hate Crimes Bill

On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Act expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. This was the law that was so forcefully opposed by James Dobson and Focus on the Family. It has long been opposed by Republicans and supported by Democrats. Now, by tying it to a Defense appropriation bill, the Democrats were able to get it passed.

In signing the bill the President pointed-out why this law was a necessary addition to regular laws against violent attacks: “You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights -- both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be....we sense where such cruelty begins: the moment we fail to see in another our common humanity -- the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same fears and hopes, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share.”

Thirty-five Senate Republicans voted against passage of the defense authorization bill because it also contained this hate crimes legislation. Only Senators George Voinovich, Dick Lugar, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins voted with Democrats to move the legislation to a final vote.

House Minority Leader, John Boehner, opposed the bill saying: "All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance. The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others.” The bill, however, does not prosecute “thought crimes.” It explicitly states that "Nothing in this Act...shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."

Boehner and the right-wingers have not given the real reason for their opposition. The real reason is that they hate homosexuals and do not want to have laws protecting them from the army of homophobic bigots out there who would gladly attack and kill them. They think that gays are evil. They stupidly believe that gays have chosen their sexual orientation, and that such choice should be punished.

Boehner claims that the hate-crimes bill singles out one group and provides it with special protection. I wonder how he and his cohorts would feel if the law singled-out combat veterans and provided them with special protection against attack. They would be falling all-over each-other to support such a bill. But we all know that criminals do not attack veterans just because they are veterans. On the other hand, thousands of gays and transgender people have been deliberately attacked, injured, and murdered because of their sexual identity.

Matthew Shepard was tortured, tied to a fence, and murdered in 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming, because he was perceived to be gay. James Byrd, Jr. was an African-American man who was tied to a truck by two known white supremacists, dragged by it, and decapitated in Jasper, Texas in 1998. There were no applicable hate crime laws in Wyoming and Texas at the time of the murders.

Right-wingers like John Boehner use mealy-mouthed excuses for their prejudice against gays. All hatred of gays is unpardonable bigotry. All bigotry is ignorance. Organizations that claim to be religious, but cry-out against the rights of homosexuals, should be denounced. And the right-wingers in Congress, by catering to this barbarian segment of the populace, deserve to be condemned.