I wonder how long it will take the Democrats to get around to doing this?
Looks like the Cutty Sark has finally rotted Chappaquiddick Ted's brain.
To read the Senate Republican Policy Committee Analysis of the Kennedy/Smith Hate crimes bill:
http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/CRIMEcr071503.pdf
To contact your Senators and Representatives concerning this:
http://capwiz.com/traditional/dbq/officials/
Cross-dressers are headed for protected victim status. Cross-wearers, however, are routinely vilified, particularly if the cross is worn in school.
Just wait 'till this gets filtered down to the plumbing codes. In five years, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that builders are going to have to start installing Men/Women/Other bathrooms for all new construction, along with all the other ADA add-ons.
Smith is Republican and Mormon. He's the last person who should be pushing this.
Teddy is pushing this because he wishes to try out an "alternative lifestyle"?
Not to worry, the geniuses on the right will just jump in there and get protected status for ex-gays as well. They will then fool themselves into thinking that is some kind of victory.
Uh-huh! Aren't we just a little paranoid?
If I took treatments to darken my skin, could I claim African-American on the next census form?
There IS no such thing as a sex change operation any more than one can change race. The DNA is unchanged.
It is merely a cosmetic surgery (including sometimes a "castration") by mentally ill members of society who have unstable opinions of self-worth.
There is NO "wear the clothes of the opposite sex" gene. We are born naked. All fashion is cultural.
There can be no more protection from "hate crimes" (refusal of service, violence, insults, termination from work) for cross-dressers than there can be for someone who chooses to wear a tutu, suit of armor, punk rock ripped jeans and mohawk, Donald Duck costume, or profanity labeled shirt.
When will there be hate crimes laws to protect the fat, 4-eyed, pimple faced, braces wearing, brainy nerd in school? Answer, never.
We are all due certain civil rights. The right to not be insulted does not exist. That is free speech. The right to not be hit or beaten exists for everyone and the motive plays no part in sentencing. Employers and businesses are not required to give anyone a job or service.
A person's politics are also not protected by "hate crimes" laws. So in America after President Bush won, you had employers and hotels that discriminated against Republicans.
If Fat Ted, the Swimmer, ever stood up for THEIR rights, I might give a crap.
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
This Senate "hate crimes" folly - or really, worse than folly, could tripe be evil? just won't die. It's like the Undead or something. Ted Kennedy and Gordon Smith - an unlikely twosome, keep pushing it over and over again.
It's really too bad the Republican Party in OR couldn't come up with something better than Smith. A more moderate faux Republican it would be hard to imagine.
I certainly hope it doesn't pass the Senate, and if it does, that the House kills it.
Freepmail me if you want on/off this pinglist.
I don't even want to know. Crossdressers and drag queens(aren't they the same damn thing) and ITS(trans) are bad enough.
They don't seem to have a problem with flushing the unborn but let's protect these freaks. That means they are trying to force employers to hire these people or else be charged with a "hate crime"?!
There is not a bad idea that Ted Kennedy has not tried to push and usually gets by with it. He seems to be able to find some dumb*ss Republican to join him in most of it.