ALERT Hate Crimes Bill to Hit Senate This Week (Maybe Wednesday)

July 15, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Feminism, Gay Marriage, Gays, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime bill (S909) is poised to hit the floor of the Senate this week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. *Call your Senators and tell them you want this thing stopped.

This bill is an egregious example of liberal overreach. If passed we will see any manner of sexual perversions legitimized as unassailable and any crime or speech against these proclivities will be suddenly termed a “hate crime.” We will also see crimes against gays and lesbians suddenly deemed as somehow worse than crimes against straight people simply by the virtue that the victims are gay.

We will also have codified crime based on thought if this bill passes. How will a judge or prosecutor determine if “hate” was the basis for crime, anyway? How can a jury know that a gay man was beaten because he is gay as opposed to because he didn’t give a mugger his wallet? And what of religious speech against certain sexual proclivities? Will that be deemed a “hate crime” now?

Another problem with this bill is that it determines “hate” by defining the sexual proclivities against which the “hate” is perpetrated. As Representative Alcee Hastings (D, FL) said praising the bill “…this legislation addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these philias, and fetishes, and isms that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are.”

Of course, just what “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” is going to be codified by law as worthy of protection from “hate crime” and what is not? After all, to make law, definitions must be arrived at. Are we going to include pedophelia in this? If not, why not?

Finally, this thing is typical of a brand of liberal activism that jumps to action regardless of reality or facts. See, this bill was based on the 1998 beating death of Matthew Shepard of Laramie, Wyoming. After Shepard was murdered by a pair of criminals and drug addicts the claim was raised that the beating took place because Shepard was gay. It seems that truth was, however, that the pair of criminals thought Shepard had money and they wanted to rob him of it. Drugs were also a motive. They did not attack him because he was gay. Still, an entire cause was made of something that was not factually true.

In any case, this is bad law that opens the door for thought police, codifying into law as legitimate any manner of sexual perversion, not to mention that it will muddy the waters for prosecutors and judges across the country.

Call your Senators and tell them to vote no. It will only take a few minutes to do.

* Find your Senator’s contact info.

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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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