Compiled By GayToday
 The Rev. Troy Perry
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Washington, D.C.-- The
GOP leadership stripped hate crime legislation from the Department
of Defense authorization conference report yesterday. Lesbian and
gay advocacy groups as well as others quickly condemned the
Republican leaders, calling the move unconscionable.
While hate crime legislation still could pass in the present
Congress, the GOP leadership has shown, they say, that they are
determined to kill Hate Crime legislation even if it means their
Republican colleagues will be hurt on Election Day.
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"The morally reprehensible actions by the GOP leadership sends the
wrong message to the country and will have ramifications for fair-minded
Republicans who supported bipartisan hate crime legislation," said HRC
Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.
"The recent murder in Roanoke illustrates once again the need for
our leaders to seriously tackle the problem of hate violence. But we have
a GOP leadership that has instead turned their backs on hate crime victims
and their families and acted against the wishes of the House, the Senate
and an overwhelming majority of the American people. This is not only bad
policy, it is bad politics, and their irresponsible actions may cost the
party in November."
Reverend Troy D. Perry, Founder and Moderator of the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), an inclusive
worldwide fellowship of Christian congregations with a special outreach to
the world's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered communities, said:
"I cannot express how disappointed I am in this decision by the
House. It is hard to believe that even with the hate crimes that have been
committed in the last 3 months, there are members of Congress who still
don't understand that we need this protection."
A recent poll conducted by the firm Garin Hart Yang asked voters
whether they would be more or less likely to support a candidate who did
not support legislation to strengthen the prosecution of violent hate
crimes motivated by prejudice against the race, religion, gender,
disability or sexual orientation of the victim. A full 66 percent of
respondents said they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate,
including 54 percent of Republican respondents. The poll was conducted
over a three-day period in late August and has a margin of error of 2.8
percent points. The Reverend Perry continued:
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believe that in this very important election, and in all future
elections, we should remember those individual members of Congress
who voted against this legislation. I encourage all of you to look
at the voting record of every member of Congress on this issue and
remember it in upcoming elections."
"The conservative leadership that refused to allow this
legislation to become law has sent a message of callous indifference
to our country," said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive
Director Elizabeth Toledo.
"In less than five weeks we will go to the polls to elect a
new House and a new Senate. We in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender community will have our own message to send come
Election Day." |
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GayToday's Hate
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Related Sites:
Human Rights Campaign
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In June, the Senate voted 57 to 42--including 13 Republicans--to
pass the language of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. On Sept. 13, by a
vote of 232-192--including 41 Republicans--the House passed a motion to
instruct conferees to keep the hate crimes measure in the Department of
Defense bill.
Despite bipartisan passage in the House and Senate, the GOP
leadership stripped out hate crime legislation while the bill was in
conference. It appears now that the only way hate crime legislation can
become law is if it is made part of the final budget negotiations between
the House, Senate and the White House.
On September 22, Ronald Edward Gay walked into the Backstreet Cafe,
a Roanoke, Virginia. gay bar, and opened fire on patrons killing one
person and wounding six others.
This attack highlights the continued problem of antigay hate crimes
in America, which have grown increasingly violent in recent years.
According to the Washington Post, Gay told police that he
shot seven people in a gay bar because of anger at jokes people made about
his last name. Gay has been charged with first-degree murder.
Last month, the Human Rights Campaign launched a $75,000 HRC radio,
television and print ad campaign that ran for 4 days and held several
members of Congress and the GOP presidential candidate, Governor Bush,
accountable for their opposition to hate crime legislation.
Those targeted in the ads were the following House and Senate
members:
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Republican-Illinois
Senator
John Ashcroft, Republican-Missouri.
Rep. James Rogan,
Republican-California
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott,
Republican-Mississippi.
Senator Rick Santorum,
Republican-Pennsylvania.
Senator Rod Grams,
Republican-Minnesota.
Sen. Spencer Abraham, Republican-Michigan
Sen.
John Warner, Republican-Virginia.
Sen. Slade Gorton,
Republican-Washington.
A new poll released last month by the Garin-Hart-Yang-Research
Group shows that hate crime legislation is widely supported by the public.
According to the poll, nearly 66 percent of voters say they would
be less likely to vote for a candidate who voted against legislation to
"strengthen the prosecution of violent hate crimes motivated by prejudice
against race, religion, gender or sexual orientation of the victim." 63
percent of Independent voters say they are "less likely to vote for a
candidate opposed to hate crime legislation.
A coalition of organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign,
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, and the American Association of University Women have been
leading efforts to pass hate crime legislation.
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