On Monday, June 14, 2004, the Senate may be considering a “hate crimes” amendment most likely offered by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) during debate of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2004.
Traditional Values Coalition is OPPOSED to this “Hate Crimes” amendment for the following reasons:
* Hate crimes legislation is dangerous to free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association – Canada and Scandanavia have already moved to suppress the criticism of homosexuality with laws making it a “hate crime” to criticize or speak against homosexuality in any way;
* Hate crime legislation violates the fundamental Constitutional protections of equal justice by promoting unequal justice under the law.
* Hate crime legislation creates a two-tier system of justice where some “victims” are more equal than others under the law. This unequal justice makes one motivation for assaulting a person more heinous than another.
* Supporters of hate crime legislation have not sufficiently proven that local law enforcement authorities are not prosecuting crime. Quite the opposite, perpetrators of the horrible crimes used to promote the legislation have been brought to justice.
* Hate crimes account for a small number of total crimes. Of the supposed hate crimes reported, a significant number are not violent crimes, instead they are insults or intimidation.
* Hate crimes would not allow for the death penalty to be handed down for heinous crimes.
* Hate crimes” legislation is a top priority of homosexuals in their desire to gain federal protection as a minority group under federal law. This hate crime bill will be used to force Christian businessowners to accommodate homosexual and transgendered workers as well as to punish individuals who may be critical of homosexual sodomy
Traditional Values Coalition will be scoring this vote. Any vote for “Hate Crimes” will be considered an anti-Christian vote and will be reported to our member churches as such.
TAKE ACTION
There is not much time to act. Since the Senate will be closed on Friday, June 11th, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU CALL YOUR TWO (2) U.S. SENATORS ON MONDAY, JUNE 14, TO OPPOSE ANY “HATE CRIMES” AMENDMENT, including the Smith Amendment #3183. Please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121 and ask for your TWO (2) U.S. Senators.
For more details, please see TVC’s report on the Kennedy/Smith hate crime bill, explaining why this is dangerous and why it must be defeated. The Senate Republican Policy Committee has also published a report on the dangers of passing this bill.
