Time to Stand Firm on So-Called 'Hate Crimes'

http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/2930/

[Stand Firm] 7 May 2007--The Episcopal gay activist (redundancy alert) blog Walking with Integrity reaches a new ironic low with this piece, which contains a letter to Congress from Judy Sheppard, the mother of Matthew Sheppard, written as the Senate is about to receive the hate crimes bill already passed by the House. Someone named "Ann" wastes no time setting the tone, writing in reference to Mrs. Sheppard: "She counters the lies of the ultra-right."

Certainly without sufficient technology to monitor and decipher electrical impulses in the brain, it's a bit ambitious for gay activists to propose to monitor thought, but give them time. I'll let you decide for yourself how slippery this slope is (the text of the bill is here), but I think it's reasonable to assume that given their druthers, gay activists - including most of those among our Worth Opponents - would enthusiastically welcome legislation that made it a crime to do exactly what we do here. I can't imagine that the likes of Susan Russell, Louie Crew, Elizabeth Kaeton, every single member of Integrity and Oasis, most of TEC's Executive Council, and a good portion of its bishops and clergy, would lift so much a finger in protest.

Matthew Sheppard's death was indeed a tragedy, and his killers should be punished to fullest extent of the law.1 No rational person denies that or argues to the contrary. But of the many problems with hate crime legislation in general, and this bill in paticular, one of the worst is that it has the effect of declaring Matthew Sheppard's murder a worse crime than the murder of non-gay victims; by definition elevating in importance the killing of a homosexual above that of a heterosexual. I reject that entirely, and I submit that anyone with a correct understanding of American jurisprudence - let alone an interest in true equality - must reject it as well. Florida Congressman Jeff Miller puts it well:

There is hope for sanity, and it lies with none other than President Bush, who has threatened to veto the bill if it passes the Senate. The other hope lies with people like us. We can write our Senators using this link, and tell them to reject all unequal enforcement of laws based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or "sexual orientation."This is a very important Little Stone Bridge, and it's one of the ways our Worthy Opponents have been cleaning our clocks over the last 40 years. For once, let's give as good as we've gotten.