May 5, 2009

H.R. 1913 was approved by the U.S. House on April 29 and is expected to come to a vote in the full Senate very soon.  Please copy and circulate this document to as many people as possible.

Short and official titles of bill H.R. 1913:

“Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009”

“To provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes, and for other purposes.”

Shawn D. Akers, a Policy Analyst with Liberty Counsel and Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of Academic Support with Liberty University School of Law, writes this analysis of the characteristics of the proposed law:

A.     This bill would create a federal offense imposing federal criminal penalties —  potentially in addition  to criminal penalties imposed under state law —  on any defendant who chooses his victim in whole or in part because of the victim’s “actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin” or “actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” Violations would be punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment of up to

10  years, or imprisonment for life if the offense results in death or “includes kidnaping [sic] or an  attempt  to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.”

B.    The bill includes the terms “Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity” —  ambiguous terms that the drafters of the bill have refused to define.  It places those descriptions on par with race, color, religion and nationality.

C.    As a matter of mechanics, the bill provides financial grants to state and local entities, provides additional personnel for investigation and prosecution, creates new federal criminal offenses, and creates a new  evidentiary rule (no evidence of speech or associations is admissible to prove motive of defendant unless the speech or association is “specifically related” to the “hate crime”).

D.    The bill is couched in terms of providing assistance to state local and Indian governments but it reserves the right to act if they fail to exercise their jurisdiction, or leave “demonstrably un-vindicated the federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.”

Citizens for Community Values President Phil Burress provides this insight on the phrase “sexual orientation.” What does it mean?

“In 1993, Charlie Winburn, then a Cincinnati City Councilman, became the first in the nation to raise this question — because it had been used in piece of local, special rights legislation. Winburn found that the term could include a variety of bizarre sexual behaviors. Here are just a few:

• Incest — sex with one’s offspring (a crime, of course)

• Necrophilia — sexual relations with a corpse, also a crime

• Pedophilia — sex with an underage child, another crime

• Zoophilia — bestiality, a crime in numerous states

• Voyeurism — a criminal offense in most states

• Fronteurism — which involves a man approaching an unknown woman and rubbing up against her buttocks

• Coprophilia — sexual arousal from feces

• Urophilia — sexual arousal from urine

Proponents of H.R. 1913 refuse to define sexual orientation in the bill.  Consequently, these bizarre behaviors will become protected classes!   In fact, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), offered an amendment that would have at least excluded pedophilia as a sexual orientation covered under the bill.  Surely, King thought, the proponents would not want men sexually molesting children to become a protected class under this bill. King’s amendment was defeated.”

And just what do they mean by gender identity?   Americans for Truth President Peter LaBarbera  says  that  “You  would  practically need  a  PhD.,  to  keep  up  with  the  ever- expanding array of gender identities that fall under the ‘T’ umbrella in the ‘GLBT’ (gay, lesbian,  bisexual, transgender) equation.”  A survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality lists 16 choices, including “Transgender”, “Transsexual,” “Genderqueer” and “Third Gender.”