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April 27, 2007

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Congress denying equal protection.
All people should be treated equally under the law.
House roll call on Hate Crimes, Congress denying equal protection
(May 3, 2007)

Last week, some schools suspended students who objected to the pro-homosexual advocacy of the Day of Silence. (See "Boycott Day of Silence," and " Students punished for opposing 'gay' advocacy"). This week Congress moved forward with legislation that would drastically undermine the equal protection of heterosexual and traditional marriage advocates, whether students, teachers, or administrators by creating federally-protected minority group status for practitioners of all forms of deviant sexual behavior.

The so-called hate crimes bill, H.R. 1592 was debated
by the full House Judiciary Committee on April 25
and is expected to be voted on the House floor
next Thursday, May 3rd or as early as Tuesday.

The federal House Judiciary Committee divided along party lines as all 23 Democrats voted yes; all 17 Republicans voted no. Attempts to amend some of the worst elements out of the bill were defeated. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592) expands the federal definition of hate crimes to include violence against a person because of his or her "actual or perceived" sexual orientation or "gender identity."

How HR 1592 is dangerous:

-- Practitioners of homosexual, cross-dressing, transvestism, and transsexualism become federally-protected minority groups. All sexual behaviors will be considered equal to race under federal laws and they become protected by federal civil rights laws. Special rights apply to these groups. Similar crimes or accusations of crimes against heterosexuals do not have similar protection. Most crimes are motivated by hatred, so this bill provides special rights for some.

-- Committee members refused to define "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."  Without a definition, these terms include she-male, cross-dresser, drag queen, transgender, transsexual, and all other forms of sexual activity.

-- Homosexuality is equated with immutable characteristics, such as race and disability.

-- Religious expression is not exempt. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) proposed an amendment protecting freedom of religion: "Nothing in this section limits the religious freedom of any person or group under the constitution." The Democrat majority would not accept the amendment.

Congressman Gohmert  (R-Tex.) asked, “If a minister was giving a sermon, a Bible study or any kind of written or spoken message saying that homosexuality was a serious sin and a person in the congregation went out and committed a crime against a homosexual would the minister be charged with the crime of incitement?” According to Andrea Lafferty, who was monitoring the entire hearing for the Traditional Values Coalition, Democrat Congressman Artur Davis (D-Al) answered, “Yes.” 

Yet protection of religious freedom was not included in the bill. Clearly, religious expression in private Christian schools and by private individuals in any setting is under attack in this bill. Yet HR 1592 is on a fast track in Congress.

Putting the shoe on the other foot, if a homosexual activist, such as a member of Soul Force, makes statements,as they commonly do, accusing Christian schools of being hateful for upholding the biblical teaching that homosexuality is wrong, and if a person hearing that statement went out and committed a crime against a heterosexual, could that person be charged with a crime of incitement? The answer is no, because heterosexuals are not protected under this bill.

[] ““Sexual orientation” and “gender identity” include a wide variety of sexual orientations outside of normal heterosexuality. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, lists a whole range of sexual orientations that may end up being given special federal civil rights “protected” status just as race and gender by passage of H.R. 1592.

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