Hate Crimes Bill – Law by the Weekend?
A spokesman with the American Family Association says the hate crimes bill passed Thursday afternoon by the House could have a chilling effect on free speech and religious freedoms in the nation. If the bill passes the Senate, federal prosecutors will be able to intervene in cases of violence against people because of gender, sexual orientation, “gender identity,” or disability.
Bryan Fischer is director of issues analysis for the American Family Association. The bill passed by the House, he says, is alarming. (The vote on HR 2647 — the Defense Authorization bill to which the hate crimes legislation was attached — was 281-146; see roll call vote)
“For the first time in American history we are criminalizing thought,” Fischer laments. “Thomas Jefferson said the reach of legislation should extend to actions only and not to opinions — and now we are punishing people not just for what they did, but what they were thinking when they did it.
“It’s also going to have a chilling effect on freedom of speech, especially religious speech. And [in] other places where these hate crimes bills have gone into effect, pastors have wound up in jail or fined for preaching a biblical view of homosexuality.”
Fischer says he would not be surprised if the bill passes through the Senate by the weekend. “I suspect the president is putting pressure on some Democrats in Congress to get this done so he can sign it by Saturday night,” says the AFA spokesman. “[That very evening] he’s going to give the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. That’s the major homosexual advocacy group in the nation. I think he wants this scalp on his belt walking into that dinner.”
He also has concerns about overturning such legislation in the near future. “Something like this is going to be very difficult to repeal,” Fischer admits. “It’s doable, but again [there’s] a slim chance that Republicans or conservatives will have control of either the House or Senate in 2010 — so we’ll be fighting a rear-guard battle for some time now.”
The hate crimes amendment is attached to a $681-billion Pentagon policy measure that now heads to the Senate.
(Source: OneNewsNow)
