[SynthethicalY]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...03/hate-crimes


WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to expand federal hate crime categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender, acting just hours after the White House threatened a veto.
The legislation, passed 237-180, also would make it easier for federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the Senate, setting the stage for a possible veto showdown with President Bush.

"This is an important vote of conscience, of a statement of what America is, a society that understands that we accept differences," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the only openly gay man in the House, presided over the chamber as the final vote was taken.

The vote came after fierce lobbying from opposite sides by civil rights groups, who have been pushing for years for added protections against hate crimes, and social conservatives, who say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups of citizens for special protection.

The White House said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill and there was "no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement."

It also noted that the bill leaves other classes, such as the elderly, the military and police officers, without similar special status.

"Our criminal justice system has been built on the ideal of equal justice for all," said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "Under this bill justice will no longer be equal, but depend on the race, sex, sexual orientation, disability or status of the victim."

Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate crimes protection. It was defeated on a mainly party-line vote.

Hate crimes under current federal law apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.

The House bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal authorities greater leeway to participate in hate crime investigations. It would approve $10 million over the next two years to help local law enforcement officials cover the cost of hate crime prosecutions.

Federal investigators could step in if local authorities were unwilling or unable to act. The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay rights group, said this federal intervention could have made a difference in the case of Brandon Teena, the young Nebraska transsexual depicted in the movie "Boys Don't Cry" who was raped after two friends discovered that he was biologically female and then murdered after local police did not arrest those responsible.

But Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, warned that the true intent of the bill was "to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." If you read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, "you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.'"

"It does not impinge on public speech or writing in any way," countered Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., pointing out that the bill reaffirms First Amendment and free speech rights.

Conyers said in a statement that state and local authorities will continue to prosecute the overwhelming majority of such cases and the bill requires the attorney general or another high-ranking Justice Department official to approve any federal prosecutions.

The legislation restates already-enacted penalties. Those using guns to commit crimes defined under the bill face prison terms of up to 10 years. Crimes involving kidnapping or sexual assault or resulting in death can bring life terms.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who died after he was beaten and tied to a fence in Wyoming in 1998. His mother Judy, who heads a foundation in her son's name and has been a leading advocate of the legislation, addressed House Democrats before the vote to ask for their backing.

The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said that racially motivated bias accounted for 55 percent of those incidents, religious bias for 17 percent, sexual orientation bias for 14 percent and ethnicity bias for 14 percent.

[cryptowonderdruginvogue]

im starting to think im standing on the wrong side of the fence

[SynthethicalY]

No your not, just some issues your side has on some views.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by cryptowonderdruginvogue

im starting to think im standing on the wrong side of the fence

i knew that you'd one day discover that deep inside you really are gay

[pbradley]

I hope he doesn't veto Love Crimes next.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by pbradley

I hope he doesn't veto Love Crimes next.

he can do anything, he's the commander guy

[SynthethicalY]

That is funny, commander guy.

[pbradley]

Five bucks says the next one is "boss dude."

[SynthethicalY]

I would say, he will say "I am Jesus, and Jehovah has sent me here to purify the world." And I am pretty sure a lot will believe him. I think he is still high on all that crack he snorted.

[SynthethicalY]

I am starting to think gays need to come out more, so people can see there are way more gays. We need to come out, and say we do exist, we are everywhere, and we are your next door neighbor, your brother, your sister, your cousin, your husband, your wife. I think the more that come out, the more we will be accepted outside the cities. Because I think people are thinking that they are only in cities, and we are not. We are everywhere. I should come out I have been thinking of this lately, to come out to my family. Because that way I will help people gain more acceptance of this issue.

[Dead-Air]

Originally Posted by SynthethicalY

I would say, he will say "I am Jesus, and Jehovah has sent me here to purify the world." And I am pretty sure a lot will believe him. I think he is still high on all that crack he snorted.

While I buy that he did snort coke in his day, and that he might have been dumb enough to try to snort rocks instead of powder, I don't think he could have gotten crack without getting seriously mugged. And if he had, he would have been very dissapointed that it wouldn't fit up his nose.

[SynthethicalY]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

people are well aware that they are everywhere, thats why there have been so many issues involving the subject.

i think there should be striaght pride marches,

Can you come up with a good slogan?

[luxinterior]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

people are well aware that they are everywhere, thats why there have been so many issues involving the subject.

That's absolutely untrue.

Originally Posted by swa(y)

i think there should be striaght pride marches,

Every day is straight pride day, at least if you live on earth with all the rest of us. Stop whining.

[SynthethicalY]

I don't think middle America or suburbs in more liberal states, think there are gays in their community.

[pbradley]

I live in San Francisco.

Gay rights goes without saying and we never have a shortage of gay pride marches.

[Magic Wheel Memory]

I'm not sure I agree with the concept of hate crimes. To me, violent crime is wrong and must be punished severely, whether or not it's motivated by hate. And as disgusting as hate is, this is a free country, where people have the right to hate. When the government enters the business of trying to determine who hates whom, then where do we go next?

Gay marriage, on the other hand, should be legal, for basically the same reasons. The government should not be deciding what kinds of adults should have the right to enter into a legal union.

In other words, violence is wrong, and marriage is beautiful, regardless of who's involved.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

Originally Posted by cryptowonderdruginvogue

im starting to think im standing on the wrong side of the fence

I love you

[SynthethicalY]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i knew that you'd one day discover that deep inside you really are gay

That would explain his raver get-up.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by Dead-Air

While I buy that he did snort coke in his day,

he still does
http://tomflocco.com/fs/SecretServIntelSay.htm

Originally Posted by Dead-Air

and that he might have been dumb enough to try to snort rocks instead of powder,

You can't snort crushed crack rock because it makes you violently ill. Dealers will sometimes try to swallow large amounts of rock when they get arrested and some end up in the emergency room or dead as a result.

Originally Posted by Dead-Air

I don't think he could have gotten crack without getting seriously mugged. And if he had, he would have been very dissapointed that it wouldn't fit up his nose.

Haha, very funny, but of course, in reality, Bush has access to unlimited crack and cocaine, let's get real...

[luxinterior]

Originally Posted by swa(y)

im not whining...at all.

i wouldnt literally "support" a straight pride march, but im no more for or against the idea than i am a straight pride march.

there are indeed more straight people than gay people, and there always will be. its called the procreation process. its part of evolution.

i have nothing against homosexuals. at all. but, at the same time, im highly annpyed when people are attacked for beinh "homophobic". techically speaking, its only normal to be (im not, but alot of people are, and i dont think its because they think being gay is "rare").

in high school ( and for a while afterwards) i argued more or less the same thing. that practically everyday was a "straight pride march". but in recent years ive changed my mind...it really isnt.

im totally opposed to beating someone up because they are gay. everyone deserves to be treated fairly. but, theres a big misconception that just because someone is "homophobic" that it means they want to huer gay people. not true. someone whos afraid of spiders is more likely to just stay away from them, or get someone else to kill them.

i have gay friends, and ive certainly dealt with issues revolving around sexual confusion....

but it bothers me when those that are opposed to homosexuality are vigorously attacked for their beliefs. i mean, only in recent times has it grown more acceptable to be openly gay.

i think this will change. its bound to....we'll see a day to where teachers are more openly gay and students dont have to be in fear (which most tend to brag about it anyways, i went to high school in a small town....a town that as a whole doesnt accept homosexuality, but my school had several students that were openly gay. no one ever beat em up...and by openly gay i mean they felt the need to bring up their sexual orientation every opportunity they got) < needless to say it got on my nerves.

if yr gay...oh well, the world doesnt need to know. same goes for if yr straight.

maybe its just part of the process for people growing more used to (comfortable) with the idea of being around gay people. which, most are anyways.

A lot of this is very wrong, laughable if you will, and I don't even know where to begin responding to it.