The homosexual movement gained a barrier-breaking victory Oct. 28 when President Obama signed into law a measure extending hate crimes protections to homosexuals and transgender people.
The president’s signature on the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act put into effect not only an annual bill for the U.S. military but also enshrined into federal law the most significant legislative advance to date for homosexual activists. The Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest homosexual organization, had called the measure the country’s “first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”
The president reserved his remarks at the White House signing ceremony primarily for the focus of the bill — the Department of Defense’s reauthorization — although he did comment briefly on the hate-crimes provision. Later in the day, however, he spoke at a special White House commemoration of the hate-crimes expansion. The measure’s signing is “another step forward” on “the journey toward a more perfect union,” Obama told supporters of the hate-crimes legislation.
The hate crimes language in the new law adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” as well as disability, to the current categories — such as race, religion and gender — protected from hate crimes. “Sexual orientation” includes homosexuality and bisexuality, while “gender identity,” or transgendered status, takes in transsexuals and cross-dressers.
Advocates of freedom of religion and of speech and of the biblical view of sexuality expressed dismay at the development, even though they oppose violence against homosexuals. They fear the measure, combined with existing law, could expose to prosecution Christians and others who proclaim the Bible’s teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful. For example, if a person commits a violent act based on a victim’s “sexual orientation” after hearing biblical teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual behavior, then the preacher or teacher could be open to a charge of inducing the person to commit the crime, some foes say.
“I am disappointed that President Obama has signed the hate crimes bill into law but I am not surprised,” said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. “The president has been clear, even before he was elected, that he intends to champion the homosexual agenda. This is merely one of a number of steps he will take in fulfilling that commitment.”
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an alliance of Christian lawyers who seek to protect religious liberty, said the hate crimes expansion “is another nail in the coffin for the First Amendment.”
“All violent crimes are hate crimes, and all crime victims deserve equal justice,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said in a written statement. “This law is a grave threat to the First Amendment because it provides special penalties based on what people think, feel, or believe.”
The final version of the bill approved by the Senate and House included language designed to protect freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion, but at least some religious liberty organizations do not consider the protections adequate.
The new law is the first in what gay rights advocates hope will be a series of victories at the federal level. Other efforts by homosexual-rights organizations include:
• Passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would extend workplace protections to homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders.
• Repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which bars homosexuals from serving in the U.S. armed forces but also prohibits the military from investigating without just cause a member regarding his “sexual orientation.”
• Reversal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing “same-sex marriages” and gives states the option to refuse to recognize such unions from another state.
Obama signed the bill six days after the Senate voted 68–29 for the overall defense measure. The House of Representatives voted 281–146 Oct. 8 for the same defense bill.
Under the provision in the defense bill, people convicted of a hate crime would be subject to more prison time and penalties than people who commit a crime that falls outside the class of hate crimes. (BP)
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