On The Daily Beast and Associated Press
^
The Senate voted on the Federal-Hate Crime to cover physical attacks on gender,
sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities. Does anyone have a problem with
this? Apparently 28 Republican Senators do!
^
The amendment to the S.909 bill was passed with a vote of 63-28. To me this is very
shocking. If we are talking about gay-marriage rights, the numbers look reasonable.
But for a hate crime? How insensitive are you to the gay community? 5 Republicans
voted for this bill. If you disagree on trying to prevent people from attacking other
people just because they are different, the 28 Republicans must have a very strong
support group for their campaign.
^
As always there is a defending argument for voting NO to this bill.
The Christian Coalition of America stated, “The bill could potentially imperil the free
speech rights of Christians who choose to speak out against homosexuality — which
could even be extended to preaching against it,” from AP.
To me this seems like a murderer stating, “What’s wrong with killing? Just let me do
what I want to do.” Of course the only difference between that murderer and The
Christian Coalition of America is that they got GOD on their side. Don’t you have other
groups to hate? Gays might seem disgusting to you, but so does the Old Testament.
^
Dear Christian Coalition of America:
Gays are one of the most hated group in America today. As followers of Jesus’ teaching,
I believe we all need to protect those who are in danger from radical activists. The
S.909 bill will not stop these actions, but will help prevent these crimes from
happening. I believe in the message of love your neighbor, and that’s why I’m in
support of this bill. Even if you think gays are God’s plague, I hope you have a space
in your heart to remember the message of love your enemy. It may be a far stretch
for the coalition to be in favor of this bill, but is there any chance that the coalition
could withdraw their opposition?
^
This news shows great development in human rights movement.
However, it ends with a bitter taste.
Bed-Stuy PUNK 
July 17 th, 2009 at 12:22 PM
LOL And, if he actually – for once – follows through on his word, Obama will veto it.
There’s also two problems with your underlying supposition.
1) Some Republicans probably voted against it because they, like myself, don’t think thought crime legislation is a good thing.
2) Some Republicans probably voted against it because it had no place in a defense appropriations bill.
It’s not always about hating queers.
July 17 th, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Hey Jonolan
Thanks for your comment
and I think you are absolutely right
on my ignorance of the other story.
I would love to hear your opinion on crime legislation and defense appropriations bill.
but it does bother me when CCA is against such a bill for the sake gay-haters’ freedom of speech.
July 17 th, 2009 at 1:10 PM
Here’s the thing about freedom of speech – only unpopular speech needs those protections so…
As for Hate Crimes legislation – I’m utterly against them because, by criminalizing motive, the criminalize specific thoughts.
All others points of the crime being equal, does it really matter why the crime took place?
It would, in my rarely humble opinion, be far better to enforce the laws we already have rather than try to add more of them.
BTW: We’re sort of neighbors. I live in Bed-Stuy too.
July 18 th, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Dude thats awesome
i live on Walworth and Myrtle!
Where do you live?
July 19 th, 2009 at 5:51 AM
I live near Nostrand and DeKalb.