Hate-crimes law advancing in Congress

September 14, 2000

In a historic vote yesterday, Republicans joined Democrats
in the House of Representatives to approve a hate-crimes amendment,
expediting the measure’s advance to President Clinton, who has promised
to sign the legislation.

The proposal, sponsored by

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is an amendment to a massive Defense Department authorization bill introduced by

Sen. John Warner,
R-Va. By a 232-192 vote, House members endorsed a non-binding resolution that instructs colleagues in a conference committee to approve the amendment so it may continue through the legislative process.

Kennedy’s measure would expand a 1968 federal law that defines hate crimes as assaults motivated by the victim’s race, color, religion or national origin as the victim attempts to exercise certain specified federally protected activities — including voting or attending school. The amendment adds to these protected characteristics the victims’ actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation or disability. It also would give federal prosecutors the option of pursuing a hate-crime case if local authorities refused to press charges.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Kennedy said the vote “is a welcome affirmation of our determination to protect all our citizens and all our communities against violence motivated by bigotry and prejudice.”

The U.S. Senate approved Kennedy’s amendment on June 20, but the measure had to be sent to a conference committee as it conflicted with a similar amendment by

Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah. Vice President Al Gore opted to serve in his official capacity as president of the Senate that day, urging senators to support the measure.

As a result of yesterday’s vote, the conference committee — which consists of members from both the House and Senate — was instructed by the House to approve the Kennedy amendment. This marks the first time the House has acted favorably toward hate-crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation, according to the

National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force.

“We have waited a long time for this victory, but our work is not complete,” said NGLTF Executive Director Elizabeth Toledo. “We must now turn up the heat on the House conferees. We must remind them that they work for all of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who have suffered hate violence. We must remind them that they work for the women, the disabled, the people of color and the people of different nationalities, ethnicities and religious beliefs who have been victims of hate violence. We must remind them that they work for us.”

Toledo noted that a study conducted by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found there were 1,960 reported episodes of sexuality-related harassment and violence in 1999 in 13 U.S. cities. In nine of those cities, the level of harassment and violence had increased since the previous year, the group says.

“Passage of a hate-crimes law won’t eliminate all attacks on our community, but it will send a clear message that hate violence is not acceptable in our democratic society,” Toledo said.

Critics of hate-crimes legislation agree that crimes motivated by disdain of a victim’s sexual orientation are hateful and should be punished, but they should not be singled out for special treatment under the law.

“Why should the Matthew Shepard [killers] receive greater prosecution than Jesse Dirkhising’s [killers]?” asked Peter LaBarbera, senior analyst at

Family Research Council. “It seems to violate the constitutional principle of equal justice under the law. But the real thing we fear is the hate speech. Gay activists are already talking about so-called hate speech. They’ve charged Dr. Laura with hate speech and others.”

LaBarbera explained that hate-crimes laws such as the Kennedy amendment could be used to criminalize religious speech.

“Gay activists will start charging people with intimidation,” he said. “That could actually put somebody in court for what they believe.”

“It’s just a short distance to travel from prosecuting alleged hate crimes to prosecuting hate speech, especially when you have gay activists saying by merely voicing our beliefs or fighting for our beliefs that homosexuality is wrong, that we are directly creating a so-called climate of hate in which people like Matthew Shepard are killed,” LaBarbera continued. “So they’re already linking our beliefs to these horrendous crimes, and so we think that someday, they will use these laws to try to criminalize our speech on the homosexual issue.”

Jesse Dirkhising was a 13-year-old boy who was raped, tortured and murdered in September 1999 by two homosexual men in Rogers, Ark. The case generated national attention after WorldNetDaily Editor

Joseph
Farah first reported it nationally last October.

Farah made the case that other national news media opted to neglect the story because it involved a politically incorrect theme — a heinous crime involving the rape and murder of a teen-age boy by two homosexuals. He compared the case to the murder of Matthew Shepard, a homosexual from Wyoming who was tortured and murdered by heterosexuals, a story widely reported by the national media and used as a catalyst for hate-crimes legislation across the country.

David Smith of the

Human Rights Campaign calls the vote on the Kennedy amendment “a good thing.”

“It sends a message to the conferees that the House, the Senate and the president are all behind this legislation. They let it be dropped … at their political peril,” Smith said.

Christian activists credited with the overwhelming 1994 GOP victory, which gained Republicans the majority in both houses of Congress and many state legislatures, are gearing up for yet another political battle. But this time, the target of their efforts includes their own Republican representatives.

“We are issuing a warning today to those who voted for this legislation: We will notify our 43,000 churches about your vote today, and Christians will remember this on Election Day,” said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of Traditional Values Coalition.

TVC has long opposed passage of hate-crimes legislation, saying “such laws single out certain politically active groups for special legal protections. No person should be afforded greater legal protections simply because he is given special status by a federal law.”

According to a written statement by the organization, “Homosexuals will be the primary beneficiaries of this legislation — which will eventually extend to punish so-called ‘hate speech’ or ‘hate-motivated incidents.’ In effect, this law will be used to criminalize thought — not just speech or actions.”

“It is only a matter of time before this law will be used to punish Christian pastors who express opposition to homosexuality as a sinful behavior. A sermon preached against sodomy could be considered hate speech,” said Lafferty. “It looks like the radicals have won again, and Christians will now be fair game for anti-religious homosexual bigots.”

The vast majority of Christian denominations oppose the practice of homosexuality, as do most sects of Judaism and Islam.

Kennedy, whose brother was the first Irish Catholic president of the United States, believes his amendment is necessary to properly punish actions motivated by victims’ sexual orientation.

“For too long, the federal government has been forced to stand on the sidelines in the ongoing battles against these despicable offenses. It is long past time to punish these vicious crimes with the full force of federal law,” he said. “Today’s vote sends a strong and clear message that combating hate crimes is a national priority and that Congress is committed to doing all it can to bring an end to hate-motivated violence anywhere in America.”