Guest Commentary! Hate Crimes Legislation: The Politically Correct Way to Silence People of Faith     11/13/2008
By Shaun Waymire

Editor's Note: The following policy brief was written by Shaun Waymire, with CNP Action, Inc. With the new liberal leadership coming into power in January, we thought it might be good to pass this along, just so you're aware of what we'll be up against in 2009.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council stated: "In Canada, we respect freedom of speech, but we don't worship it." That's Canadian lingo for intolerance of pro-heterosexual programming on its airwaves. ¹ Americans beware, this growing animosity of religious viewpoints is spreading to the United States. In fact, homosexual activists have made great progress in pushing their agenda here at home and convincing the media and large numbers of Americans that homosexuality is genetic. Moreover, the Democratic Party eagerly pushes hate crimes and gender-orientation "discrimination" legislation through local, state, and national legislatures that threatens the First Amendment rights of pro-family individuals, businesses, and tax-exempt organizations.

CLEVER MISREPRESENTATIONS

Homosexual activists convinced many Americans of a genetic link to homosexuality by utilizing clever headlines and sound bites with no basis in fact. ² Jeffrey Satinover wrote in his book Same Sex Attraction: A Parents Guide, "We have neither the time nor the ability to sort through the primary information for ourselves in order to arrive at our own considered conclusions. As a result, the deep complexity of the scientific research into homosexuality is easy for people to misinterpret and easier still to misuse." Such a reality allows gay activists to downplay the scientific facts that threaten their agenda.

One of the most important studies refuting the notion of a gay gene involved a group of identical twins. Identical twins possess the exact same genetic makeup, meaning that if one was gay, the other must be also. However, the study found that only 52 percent of the twins were both gay. ³ The same researchers completed a similar follow-up study using a population derived from the Australian Twin Registry, a non-biased sample, and found only 20 percent of the twins shared the same homosexual orientation. ⁴

These results solidify the conservative position that usurping religious liberties over a non-genetic issue lacks common sense and good judgment. They also reinforce the urgency of exposing the myths spread by homosexual activists and their friends in the media who need Americans to accept their lies to get anti-religious legislation enacted without a long and costly fight.

Remember, a large bloc of the public believes homosexuality is genetic, but science clearly shows otherwise. Conservatives must effectively publicize this fact or risk an incremental loss of their First Amendment rights through unconstitutional legislation.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL ASPIRATIONS

The 110th Congress considered two very dangerous pieces of legislation: the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (Matthew Shepard Act). ENDA would require businesses and religious organizations to hire people who openly engage in homosexual or cross-dressing behaviors, despite sincerely held religious beliefs. ⁵ This means that a pro-family institution like Focus on the Family may face a lawsuit for refusing to hire a homosexual, ending with a possible loss of tax exempt status or worse. The same applies to religious schools, religious non-profits, and even large Christian-based corporations such as Family Christian Stores that seek to provide a Godly environment for their customers.

The Matthew Shepard Act calls for⁶:

• Creating a federal hate crime defined as "bodily injury to any person or…attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person."
• Providing federal support to law enforcement agencies at the state, local and tribal levels if requested.
• Allowing the federal government to prosecute hate crimes that states refuse to prosecute.

By instituting national hate crimes legislation, our elected officials would unconstitutionally elevate homosexuals, bisexuals, cross-dressers, and transsexuals to a more protected legal status than everyone else in the country. ⁷ Such legislation would lead to the infringement and repeal of First Amendment rights.

ALARMING STORIES FROM ABROAD

Other Western countries with current hate crimes laws protecting sexual orientation serve as great examples of where the United States might wander should such legislation pass⁸:

• In Sweden, a pastor was arrested and sentenced to one month in prison for preaching against homosexuality from the pulpit in his church. After two arduous trials, Swedish authorities finally dropped the charges, but still sent a clear and intimidating message to other religious Swedes.
• An Anglican bishop in England was investigated by police for saying that homosexuals "could and should seek medical help to 'reorient' themselves."
• Two films were banned in New Zealand for highlighting the link between AIDS and homosexual behavior.
• A Canadian man was fined $5,000 for refusing to print business cards for the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, even after citing his religious beliefs.
• The radio shows of Focus on the Family and Dr. Jerry Falwell were warned not to broadcast anything critical of homosexuality by the Canadian Broadcasting Board.

Not to be "outdone" by our European and Canadian friends, the United States already boasts a few cultural and legal examples that should raise the hair on the back of any conservative neck:

• A photographer in New Mexico was hauled before the New Mexico Human Rights Division for refusing to photograph a lesbian wedding based upon her religious opposition to homosexuality. ⁹
• AT&T; fired a man for refusing to sign a diversity policy that required him to "value homosexuality." The man offered instead to sign a pledge to not discriminate or harass anyone, but the company ignored his offer. ¹⁰
• Catholic Charities of Boston lost its license to perform adoptions by refusing to place children in same-sex households. ¹¹

Edmund Burke's famous quote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" rings particularly true in this instance. This nation continues to walk down a dangerous path in its response to homosexual activism. Religious people and institutions face a very real possibility of legal action taken against them for expressing their views. Maggie Gallagher describes such a scenario: "In 1971, the IRS issued a decision redefining the tax exemption as a public endorsement or subsidy. This means that the IRS would strip an organization of its exempt status if its purposes, although legal, were 'contrary to public policy.' It's not hard to imagine an antidiscrimination law at the federal level, which polls suggest the majority of Americans already support; look for a 5-10 point swing in public opinion on gay marriage; add a new IRS commissioner who wants to make his or her progressive mark, and religious groups would wake up to find themselves playing in a whole new ballgame." ¹²

EQUAL PROTECTION, NOT PRIVELEGED PROTECTION, NEEDED

Homosexuals deserve equal protection under the law, protection guaranteed to ALL Americans by the 14th Amendment. We oppose their agenda to elevate themselves above every other citizen by securing extensive legal protections from "insults" they deem "hate speech." Examples from other nations show the damage to civil liberties caused by hate crimes legislation, but those battles are just now beginning. America must avoid travelling down this path, and conservatives must clearly communicate why. Our lawmakers must understand that unlike Canadians, Americans revere our First Amendment freedoms and will fight until our dying breath to preserve them, for everyone.

Action Items

1) Inform your local, state, and nationally elected officials that you oppose hate crime legislation.

2) Inform your nationally elected officials that you oppose the Employment Non Discrimination Act. To find contact information for senators, go to: www.Senate.gov. To find contact information for representatives, go to: www.House.gov.

3) Pass this report on to those in your network.

4) Get candidates for office on the record this election-cycle about their stances on ENDA and hate crimes legislation.

Shaun Waymire works with CNP Action, Inc., the sister organization of the Council for National Policy, an educational organization founded in 1981. This article is reprinted with permission.

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