Hate crimes left out of Senate bill—so far

By Tom Strode - Oct 31, 2005 -

A Senate committee has approved a bill toughening supervision of sex offenders without including language that would expand hate crimes protections to encompass homosexuality.

Unlike a companion measure approved by the House of Representatives, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, S. 1086, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Oct. 20 without the attachment of an amendment that would extend hate crimes prevention to include homosexuals and transgendered individuals.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D.-Mass., however, plans to seek to attach hate crimes language on the floor to a bill, probably the sex offender measure, an aide said.

The committee markup of the bill without the hate crimes rider came a month after more than 40 pro-family leaders wrote to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging him to block passage of the measure. ERLC President Richard Land, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and American Family Associate founder Donald Wildmon were among the signers of the letter.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee made the right call on this,” said Barrett Duke, the ERLC’s vice president for public policy and research. “The hate crimes language would give homosexuals special protections under the law that transcend protections for most other people in this country. The hate crimes language represents one more attempt in the ongoing effort of homosexual activists to gain special legal status for homosexuals. The goal of all of their attempts is to one day criminalize speech that denounces homosexuality, including religious speech. This hate crimes language must be kept off of this bill.”

The hate crimes language approved in the House would extend protection to include “gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.” Kennedy’s proposed version (S. 1145), which has 44 Senate cosponsors, does not include “gender identity.” The hate crimes law currently covers the classifications of race, color, religion and national origin.

“Sexual orientation” includes homosexuality. “Gender identity” is a person’s understanding of his gender, which may be different than his sex. Transgender is an umbrella term for a category that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

The ERLC’s Duke said, “People who are concerned about creating a special legal status for homosexuals should call their senators and congressman immediately to express opposition to any hate crimes language that grants special protections to homosexuals.”

Southern Baptists and other citizens may ask their senators to oppose S. 1145 by calling through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Members of Congress may be contacted by email through the ERLC’s Web site by entering your zip code in the appropriate space in the red-bordered box above.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Family, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality