Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director of the Traditional Values Coalition released the following statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called hate crimes bill, H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act Of 2009. The vote was 249-175.
“The Anti-Christian Caucus of the U.S. House of Representativeshas acted today to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, youth pastors, Bible teachers, and anyone else whose Bible speech and thought is based upon and reflects the truths found in the Bible.
“A pastor’s sermon could be considered ‘hate speech’ under this legislation if heard by an individual who then acts aggressively against persons based on ‘sexual orientation.’ The pastor could be prosecuted for “conspiracy to commit a hate crime.”
“H.R. 1913 is the crown jewel of the LGBT lobby because it makes ‘sexual orientation,’ and ‘gender identity’ into federally protected classes under civil rights laws. These terms were not defined in the legislation – despite Republican efforts to get Democrats to define them in the bill.
“This Democrat-controlled Congress has now elevated pedophiles and other bizarre sexual orientations, as well as drag queens, transgenders, lesbians and gay men to the level of protection of that already given to African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities in the law.” Here are the facts:
- In a nation of 300 million, there is no nationwide epidemic of hate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. FBI hate crime statistics for 2007 prove this. According to FBI data, there were 16,929 murders in the U.S. in 2007. Of that number, 9 murders were classified as “hate crimes”. There were only 242 cases of actual bodily harm (aggravated assault) out of 855,856 nationally. This is no “epidemic” of hate against lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgendered persons.
- Provides federal protection for “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity,” either “actual” or “perceived.” None of these terms are defined in the legislation.
- Sexual orientation is defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The APA definition includes 30 mostly bizarre sexual behaviors–including pedophilia.
- Ensures that crimes against a transgender, drag queen, gay man or lesbian are treated more harshly than a sexual assault on a child. Under this measure, pedophiles are a protected class. As a result, if a parent assaults a pedophile for molesting a child, the parent can be convicted of a hate crime and receive an enhanced sentence.
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