Lawmakers expand Hate Crimes law to protect gays

AP ^ | 05/01/03 | ap

[follow the money]

WASHINGTON (AP) -Comparing hate crimes to terrorist acts, senators called today for laws that would expand federal penalties for acts of violence against homosexuals.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would include protections based on sexual orientation, disability and gender to existing laws that target violence because of race and religion.

[follow the money]

To add as a preamble to a proposal to pass an unconstitutional piece of legislation the statement uttered by Smith is outrageous. I'd be interested in hearing from any Oregonians who can shed some light on this beauty.

law in most State now

[follow the money]

YES thsy do look at his votes

[lndrvr1972]

Well I think that there should be a hate crime for anyone that makes fun of someone that is "hair challenged". Please write your congress person to pass this bill.

[follow the money]

Supreme Court's Day: Gay Rights Cases Up
Thu May 1, 5:31 PM ET

By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Legal cases involving the rights and treatment of gay people are on the increase, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (news - web sites) said Thursday, suggesting a major new focus for the nation's courts in the 21st century.



Asked to predict what issue might define the work of the Supreme Court in the 21st century, O'Connor said cases "relating to how homosexuals are treated legally" are one possibility.


"We see a lot of these," O'Connor said.


She did not mention a major gay rights case now before the high court. The court is considering whether states such as Texas may ban sex acts between homosexuals that are legal for heterosexuals.


At the same time, the Supreme Court is still dealing with the legacy of race, an issue that occupied the courts for much of the 20th century, O'Connor told high school students.


"I don't know that we've solved everything on the race issue yet," O'Connor said. "We have to know we haven't, because we have cases at the court this term dealing with affirmative action in higher education."


A test of the constitutionality of affirmative action in campus admissions is the most closely watched issue before the Supreme Court this term. The court is expected to rule by summer on whether race-conscious admissions policies at the University of Michigan and its law school discriminate against white applicants.


"I don't think we've finished, quite, the things from the last century," O'Connor told students at Gonzaga College High School.


O'Connor predicted her court will confront questions about civil liberties and law enforcement in the war on terrorism, but suggested the high court may not jump on the first Sept. 11-related case it sees.


"These issues are working their way through the court system," and the Supreme Court often waits to see how several lower courts view an issue before it gets involved, she said.


"We're not the first ones to get to the scene of the fire and put out the flames," O'Connor said. "We're kind of the last."


O'Connor spoke and answered questions as part of a monthlong educational series televised by C-SPAN. Justice Clarence Thomas (news - web sites) is scheduled to make a similar appearance May 20 as part of the cable station's program to being politicians, journalists, judges and others to schools around Washington.


___


On the Net:


C-SPAN speaking program site: http://www.studentsandleaders.org

[follow the money]

Representative James T. 'Jim' Kolbe (AZ)Voting Record

[LiteKeeper]

sad bump

[First Amendment]

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., We need to add the category of sexual orientation because it is so critical that we say to our gay brothers and lesbian sisters that we care about you, we include you, we want to defend you,'' said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. ``And we want to say that there is no family value to be served in opposing hate crime legislation.''

i'm from Oregon (not for long...) and I am DISGUSTED that the only "Republican" senator KA'ed the homo Nazis. I'm going to call his office tomorrow.

(Even though rural Oregon is beautiful, my husband and I are basically getting kicked out of here by the socialist crap that passes for government. This is the salt being rubbed in the wound.

[First Amendment]

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.,

We need to add the category of sexual orientation because it is so critical that we say to our gay brothers and lesbian sisters that we care about you, we include you, we want to defend you,'' said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. ``And we want to say that there is no family value to be served in opposing hate crime legislation.''

i'm from Oregon (not for long...) and I am DISGUSTED that the only "Republican" senator KA's the homo Nazis. I'm going to call his office tomorrow.

(Even though rural Oregon is beautiful, my husband and I are basically getting kicked out of here by the socialist crap that passes for government. This is the salt being rubbed in the wound.)

[First Amendment]

Sorry - I guess it's getting too late for my brain to work right - and G. Smith is the only "Republican" senator - from Oregon!

An added note - many of the supposed "hate crimes" against "gays" are faked by themselves to promote their sick cause. There were a couple of biggies a few years ago here in Oregon. There was one case where a - get this - black, lesbian woman in a wheelchair kept having crosses burning in her yard! Finally she was caught WALKING back to her wheelchair after burning one herself!!!
This is sick s**t and I am getting fed up.
Where are states I can live that are different from Oregon?? I'm selling my property and getting out of here!

[follow the money]

bump

[Lady Eileen]

bump

[Always Right]

Thank goodness the House isn't nearly as dumb as the Senate.

[Kuksool]

The Kalifornica transplants are determined to make OR into another San Francisco. BTW, Isn't Sen. Gordon Smith a devout Mormon?

[First Amendment]

There are so many leftist/socialists here already the state is ruined. I'm leaving never to return. 83% of the state is publicly owned and so most land is off limits except to look at or take a hike. I am so revolted at G. Smith that I literally am sick to my stomach. He is supposedly a Mormon but the ones I know have high moral standards which includes non-acceptance of homosexuality as normal or natural.
Either Smith is dissembling for votes or he really believes the crap he's spouting, and either way it's disgusting.

[Kuksool]

The ironic thing about your state is that many California transplants moved to OR to flee the high taxes and left wing policies of the Golden State. Now these same transplants are turning OR and other neighboring states (AZ, CO,ID, MT) into mirror images of California. It is as if they are on a mission to spread Marxism.

[Liz]

It's b-a-a-a-ck. This is Teddy's infamous "Liberals Hate Conservatives" bill.
We defeated this bill when Teddy introduced it into the Senate last year.

It must be defeated again because:
(1) it is a travesty of free speech,
(2) it directs hate solely against conservatives,
(3) the bill subjects a person accused of this so-called crime to double jeopardy.

Please send this message far and wide.

[Kevin Curry]

It is legislation specifically designed to pander to certain liberal special interest groups (gays etc), to advance their political agenda. By very cleverly hijacking the word "hate," the liberals have made it difficult for Republicans to oppose the legislation without raising the ire of shallow-thinkers in the swing-voter group.

When it comes to pitching demagoguery, no one has a truer aim than a liberal.

[Liz]

Nice take, very nice.

[Kuksool]

{many of the supposed "hate crimes" against "gays" are faked by themselves to promote their sick cause.}

It isn't just homosexuals that fake hate crimes. A few months ago in my area (Chicago), a Muslim school was vandalized. The media and the state attorney suspected it was a hate crime. Some liberal pastors scolded other churches for demonizing Islam. The local media then ran several news stories about how wonderful Islam is. It turned that the vandalism was committed by Muslim teens who attended the Islamic school!

[follow the money]

Log Cabin leader tied
to radical 'queers'
Website urged murder of President Reagan, Christian leaders

---

Posted: May 3, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern



© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

The leader of a Republican homosexual activist group that considers itself a moderate influence in the party is linked to radical "queers" urging the murder of Christian leaders, according to a family advocacy group.

Eva Young, president of the Minnesota Log Cabin Republicans, is co-moderator of a discussion group associated with usQueers.com, a notorious website shut down by a court order, according to a report written by Allyson Smith for Concerned Women for America.

The website, which debuted in March 2001, displayed a "Wanted" poster calling for "A Horrible Death By Any Means Soon" for "Well-Known Het [heterosexual] Supremacists."

Webmaster Bruce Allan Ross included on his hit list former President Ronald Reagan and former Sens. Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond. The site also called for the deaths of Focus on the Family's James Dobson and CWA founder Beverly LaHaye.

Ross was jailed last year after storming a Baptist Church in San Diego and threatening its pastor with a broken glass bottle.

CWA discovered Young's link to the website when a writer for its Culture and Family Report publication, Gary Morella, came under fire for his article defending Sen. Rick Santorum's remarks about a Supreme Court sodomy law case.

Young e-mailed Morella to question his qualifications and possibly jeopardize his job as faculty member at Penn State University.

The Log Cabin leader insisted to CWA in a phone interview she was not trying to get Morella fired, but said perhaps he should be "disciplined" by the university because his Penn State affiliation was noted in the article.

Won't exclude 'any methods'

Robert Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, called on the Log Cabin Republicans' national leadership to disassociate itself from Young for her involvement with "usQueers" activists, the family advocacy group said.

CWA said it obtained an archived copy of the website, which has this disclaimer: "usQueers.com does not authorize, ratify or directly threaten acts of violence toward the people or organizations on this list."

Other pages on the website, however, show photos of weapons and describe their use, including guns, a sword cane, a bow saw and a throat slasher.

The website asked visitors to supply personal information about its targets, including: their home, office and church addresses; favorite hangouts; family members; phone numbers; automobile license plate numbers; and "just about anything which could be useful in spotting these dangerous het supremacists when they are wandering around loose."

Its "About Us" section explains:


We are trying to provide information on this website which is not easily available elsewhere, and to serve as a conduit for communications between those who also have this mission. We do not automatically exclude the validity of any methods for achieving this mission.
Young told CWA she did not support calling for the death of critics of homosexuality, but contended, in the interest of free speech, usQueers.com should not have been shut down.

CWA noted a November 2001 radio talk show interview with San Diego's Rick Roberts in which Ross and CWA's Peter LaBarbera were guests. During the broadcast, Ross said he hoped LaBarbera would die of a heart attack.

LaBarbera, senior policy analyst at CWA's Culture and Family Institute, at the time was head of a group called Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.

On his website, Ross described LaBarbera as "a true bottomfeeder, a scum-sucking weasel who is obsessed with Queer sex beyond all reason, except where one watches him step on the bodies of those he kills with his lies in order to create his career as a Queer hater and hunter."

"His death should be soon, since he is rotting now from the inside out," Ross wrote.

'Bang, bang'

CWA said a recent check of the Yahoo discussion groups "usQueers" and its successor, "us_queers," shows Ross and Young are current contributors.

Young is shown as a co-moderator of the new us_queers discussion group, which lists as its co-owner Rusty Morris, who recently implied death threats against the leader of a pro-family San Diego group, Courageous Christians United.

In her interview with Culture and Family Report," Young said she "does not run" the us_queers discussion group, and contended her involvement on the list is a private activity not associated with Log Cabin Republicans.

"I'm on all sorts of lists," she said.

Young also moderates "sodomlist," a Yahoo chat venue "for folks to discuss tactics and approaches to get rid of sodomy laws."

Morris, also a member of sodomlist, posted a threatening response to Courageous Christians United director Steve Klein for his criticism of the "Day of Silence," a national protest event held April 9 by homosexual activists.

Morris wrote:


Bang Bang...they shot him down, BANG BANG ..that lovely sound... BANG BANG... filthy christo-het...Bang Bang...got what he should get bang bang...facist nazi pig...bang bang...big mouth and little [expletive] bang bang...this is my disclaimer...bang bang...free speech fantasy waiver bang bang...that beautiful sound...bang bang...IN MY DREAMS...my baby shot him down
Young insisted she does not "celebrate the deaths of anybody," and condemns more extreme statements by Morris and usQueers, but called Morris "an interesting guy."

"This is an edgy list," with lively opinions, she said "I don't support everything that people say on that list."

Mainstream status

CWA's Knight said "it will be interesting to see if Log Cabin Republicans – which has blasted a leading Republican senator for merely voicing his opinion in defense of sodomy laws – will now fully disassociate itself from Ms. Young and her fanatical usQueers allies."

In an interview for Culture and Family Report, LaBarbera asked Young whether or not Log Cabin Republicans should allow one of its state leaders to be involved with extremist "gay" activists who celebrate the murder of opponents and use incendiary rhetoric such as "Christo-het supremacists" to describe people of faith.

Young replied, "It's up to the LCR to respond to you. If they're going to [let me go], they're going to do it. I don't expect them to. It would be stupid. It will hurt them in the gay press, but it's their call."

She told LaBarbera she doesn't use phrases like "Christo-het supremacist," but said, nevertheless, "You are one."

CWA's Knight asserted the GOP should factor in Young's radical associations when confronted with the temptation to confer mainstream status on the Log Cabin group.

"There is nothing conservative about consorting with vicious anti-Christian bigots," he said, "just like there is nothing conservative about supporting the redefinition of marriage to include two men or two women, or pretending that two male lovers adopting a baby is as healthy for the child as having a mom and a dad."