John Aravosis reports that hate crimes legislation is coming up in the House. The Human Rights Campaign has put a video on Youtube explaining the law and the misinformation campaign by the Christian Right.
Not all people of faith are like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. The HRC gathered over 200 religious leaders who support the Matthew Shepard law.
I'm not sold on hate crimes laws. On paper, a lot of things can sound good, but I'm just not sure that hate crimes laws are even constitutional.
ReplyDeleteCan't judges already mete out harsher sentences based on bias/intent?
And when does it stop? I know some cases are more black and white than others, but the law would set a precedent that I think could be really abused from location to location to unfairly punish members of certain races or classes, which I don't think it really what the major supporters of this legislation would want.
Murder is murder, rape is rape, assault is assault. The crime is the crime and the punishment should fit the crime. I'm not convinced there should be a mandatory harsher sentencing for someone because they might yell out an -ist phrase in the commitment of that crime, or that it should always be an option. It's too easily abused I think.
That all said, I can see the point of Salmonese re: Federal Law 18 USC 245 in that it doesn't apply to sexuality (or it appears even gender?) which should be fixed. I'm not questioning equal rights and protections.
The law isn't about hateful speech. People will not be arrested for using the n word. If someone damages a black family's house and sprays the n word the intention is racially motivated. Hat crimes would have to be proven in a court of law. Just like other crimes.
ReplyDeleteThe other law in the House is people not being fired because they are gay lesbian or transgender. Steve Stanton wouldn't have been terminated if this law was passed. Stanton received outstanding performance reviews. To say they fired him because of his job skills is laughable. The City Council would never have taken up the issue if Stanton wasn't getting a sex chanfe.