Religion See other Religion ArticlesTitle: Details surrounding current Hate Crimes legislation in Congress: Adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classes
Source:
Tennessee Eagle Forum
URL Source: http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx ... CULTURE%3den-us%3aAPP%3dGAC%24
Published: Apr 25, 2009
Author: United States Congress - HR 1913 IH
Post Date: 2009-04-25 03:06:12 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
Keywords: HATE CRIMES, HOMOSEXUAL, LESBIAN, CONGRESS Views: 370
Comments: 19
Details surrounding current Hate Crimes legislation in Congress: - H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
- Introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) on April 20, 2009.
- 81 current co-sponsors.
- Hearings have been held in the House Judiciary Committee
- TN Cong. Steve Cohen D-Memphis is one of the Cosponsors.
- Some history: The last time Congress considered hate crimes, the bill number was H.R. 1592, which passed by a vote of 237-180 on May 3, 2007 (Roll Call 299).
What does the bill do? - Makes hate crimes (a crime in which the victim is intentionally selected based on his or her race, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc.) a federal offense.
- Adds sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to the U.S. criminal code (Title 18).
- Mandates federal criminal prosecution for stateoffenses, with the possibility of life imprisonment, for crimes motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person.
What is wrong with all of this? - H.R. 1913 is a dangerous and unprecedented proposal, which will transform the criminal justice system and threaten religious liberty. It is both unnecessary and unconstitutional!
Why is this bill unconstitutional? - Violates both the 1st and 14th Amendments by infringing upon these constitutional guarantees:
- Freedom of speechaims to silence and punish all opposing viewpoints
- For example, this bill requires criminal investigations to probe if a crime occurred because of bias towards a protected group, and opens the door to criminal investigations of a suspects philosophical beliefs, politics, biases, religion, activities, and past statements (i.e. saying that you may disagree with homosexuality)
- Equal Protection Under the Lawgrants more government protection to certain classes of people
- Creates unequal treatment of victims by treating crimes against protected groups more seriously than non-protected groups (e.g. the murder of a homosexual victim will be treated more seriously than a heterosexual victim)
- Religious Expressiontargets faith groups, specifically Christians, who hold traditional beliefs on homosexuality
- Threatens religious leaders and groups with a criminal prosecution and investigations into a suspects thoughts, beliefs and statements.
- For example, if a minister were to give a sermon, stating that homosexuality is morally wrong, and a member of that congregation later goes out and murders a gay person, the motivation for that murder could be traced back to the ministers remarks.
Why is it unnecessary? - The underlying offense (whether it be murder, assault, etc.) is already fully and aggressively prosecuted in all 50 states.
- FBI statistics show that the incidence of hate crimes has actually decreased over the last ten years.
- Less than 17% of all law enforcement agencies reported a single hate crime in 2005.
- We just need strict enforcement of existing laws!!
Conclusions: - All violent crimes are hate crimes and all violent criminals should be severely punished.
- Elevating particular groups of victims above others is not the answer to decreasing crime in America.
- We must enforce existing laws so that all violent criminals know they will pay for their actions.
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Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton
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"...as long as there..remain active enemies of the Christian church, we may hope to become Master of the World...the future Jewish King will never reign in the world before Christianity is overthrown - B'nai B'rith speech http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/luther.htm / http://bible.cc/psalms/83-4.htm
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
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