I will never tire of this picture.
Be John McCain (R-AZ). That wretched troll is currently on record as opposing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act that the House passed 249-175 back in April, calling it “highly controversial.” I suppose he’d like to reserve the right to bash some queers?
The bill, named in honor of the young Wyoming man targeted for his sexuality, beaten, an left to die in 1998 (11 years ago!), was introduced by Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Harry Reid (D-NV). It would add gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the current categories of race, color, religion, and national origin. Unsurprisingly, the Republicans are freaking out about “thought police” (wrong) and “every crime is a hate crime!” (double wrong). They’re also going nutty over the stipulation that gives the federal government the right to prosecute hate crimes that local and/or state governments will not. OMG SOSHULISZM.
In an attempt to get this legislation through, Dems are trying to tie the act to a big defense spending bill already on the floor (this strategy always bugs me, not least because it means it will have to go back to the House), although there is some internal dissent over the move. I’ll be keeping an eye on this story, since it has important ramifications for women and our LGBTQ and disabled sisters and brothers.
If you’re feeling wonky, you can read the entire text of the Act here, and NPR’s Morning Edition has a nice audio story here.
I heard this on Morning Edition too! Almost drove off the road into the Potomac. What a nasty piece of work he is.
Ugh. I actually have a friend whose story is part of the narrative in the Hate Crimes bill. He’s been out there, bravely facing prejudice and hatred to get justice (he was badly beaten and put in the hospital after exiting a gay club in Boston. The man who did this to him was tried and convicted but received no jail time for his actions), and this bill is important because it will give him that.
I hate when these bills are torn down with “big government” fear mongering. People should not be allowed to terrorize other American citizens for being WHO THEY ARE. Period.
As I was doing some reading around about how it got through the House, I kept coming across idiotic, offensive comments about how this Act will mean that the races (and comments were almost always about race) will be treated differently now! And I thought you libruls wanted a color-blind society! And this will just mean that white men will be further disenfranchised! I swear, they might as well have been saying “I’m a violent racist queerphobic misogynist, embittered that I might be punished for my hateful actions! Waaaah!”
Good luck to your friend, Allie Baba.
I think the crimes that we commonly think of as “hate crimes” should be considered acts of terrorism and prosecuted under our anti-terrorism laws. Such crimes aren’t meant to harm only the specific individuals involved; they’re meant to send a message that no one of that group should feel safe walking down the street. They’re meant to create widespread fear, which is exactly what distinguishes terrorism from other crimes.
I’d bet my life that if ever a case arises where someone is assaulted or murdered simply for being white or straight, these overprivileged asshats will be calling for increased penalties because this kind of hatred shouldn’t go unpunished.
Oh, John McCain. To think that circa 2000 I respected him for being an independent thinker. What an innocent I was. It’s no secret John McCain has a race problem… and a woman problem… and an anger problem.
These things should already be covered under the original bill. This is 2009, and we can’t classify something as a hate-crime via gender, race, etc? WTF, big government? WAY to fail a good 1/3 of our populace, probably more.
John McCain is hateful. Every time I reflect on what he says/does, biles rises to my mouth.