by Rev Louis Sheldon, TVC: The House Judiciary Committee is fast-tracking the so-called hate crimes bill, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (H.R. 1592). It will be voted out of the committee this week.- Tomorrow -Tuesday, April 24 -- House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security will markup (amend) the bill and vote it out of subcommittee.
- Wednesday, April 25 -- full House Judiciary Committee will markup (amend) the bill and vote it out of committee. It could reach the floor early the next week.
- H.R. 1592 will make homosexuals or gender confused individuals federally-protected classes under federal law! If this happens, homosexuals, drag queens, transsexuals and other “sexual orientations” can claim protected minority status!
The passage of H.R. 1592 is a serious threat to religious liberty. It will be used to lay the legal foundation and establish a framework to investigate, persecute and prosecute pastors, business owners or anyone else whose actions are based upon the truths found in the Bible, which have previously been protected by the First Amendment. This will result in a chilling effect on religious freedom. We urge you to contact members of the Subcommittee and the full Committee and ask that they vote AGAINST passage of H.R. 1592. Their names and phone numbers below.
No Epidemic Of Hate Crimes Exists! The FBI statistics for the past ten years show that hate crimes are declining every year. H.R. 1592 falsely claims in Section 2, without any evidence, that “the incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.” FBI statistics from 2005 (the latest available) reveal that there is no national epidemic of hate against minority groups or against homosexuals.
According to the FBI, in 2005 there were only 5,190 hate crimes directed against all persons. Of this figure, only 1,171 were sexual orientation bias crimes. Out of this 1,171:
- 301 were listed as “intimidation.”
- 333 were listed as “simple assault.”
- 177 were listed as aggravated assault! There was one forcible rape and no murders based on sexual orientation in 2005.
- 1 forcible rape; 30 robberies; 10 burglaries; 27 larcency-theft; 2 motor vehicle theft; 1 arson; 275 damage/vandalism; 3 other; 5 crimes against society.
Nationwide there were 862,947 aggravated assaults against all persons. (Source: FBI Crime in the United States 2005, Aggravated Assault) Out of 862,947 cases of aggravated assault, only 177 were motivated by sexual orientation bias. This is 0.000205 percent of all aggravated assaults in 2005. In a nation of 300 million, this is no epidemic of hate against homosexuals and gender confused individuals that need federal involvement in local law enforcement. (Source: Tables 2 and 4, FBI Hate Crime Stats, 2005)
List of House Judiciary Committee Members.
DEMOCRATS
John Conyers, Jr. (MI) (202) 225-5126 -- Howard L. Berman (CA) (202) 225-4695
Rick Boucher (VA) (202) 225-3861 -- Jerrold Nadler (NY) (202) 225-5635
Robert C. Scott (VA) (202) 225-8351 -- Melvin L. Watt (NC) (202) 225-1510
Zoe Lofgren (CA) (202) 225-3072 -- Sheila Jackson Lee (TX) (202) 225-3816
Maxine Waters (CA) (202) 225-2201 -- Martin T. Meehan (MA) (202) 225-3411
William D. Delahunt (MA) (202) 225-3111 -- Robert Wexler (FL) (202) 225-3001 Linda T. Sanchez (CA) (202) 225-6676 -- Steve Cohen (TN) (202) 225-3265
Hank Johnson (GA) (202) 225-1605 -- Luis Gutierrez (IL) (202) 225-8203
Brad Sherman (CA) (202) 225-5911 -- Anthony Weiner (NY) (202) 225-6616
Adam Schiff (CA) (202) 225-4176 -- Arthur Davis (AL) (202) 225-2665
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) (202) 225-7931 -- Keith Ellison (MN) (612) 522-1212
REPUBLICANS
Lamar S. Smith (TX) (202) 225-4236 -- James Sensenbrenner (WI) (202) 225-5101
Howard Coble (NC) (202) 225-3065 -- Elton Gallegly (CA) (202) 225-5811
Bob Goodlatte (VA) (202) 225-5431 -- Steve Chabot (OH) (202) 225-2216
Dan Lungren (CA) (202) 225-5716 -- Chris Cannon (UT) (202) 225-7751
Ric Keller (FL) (202) 225-2176 -- Darrell Issa (CA) (202) 225-3906
Mike Pence (IN) (202) 225-3021 -- Randy Forbes (VA) (202) 225-6365
Steve King (IA) (202) 225-4426 -- Tom Feeney (FL) (202) 225-2706
Trent Franks (AZ) (202) 225-4576 -- Louis Gohmert (TX) (202) 225-3035
Jim Jordan (OH) (202) 225-2676
TAKE ACTION: Call your U.S. Representatives if they are on the Judiciary Committee. If not, email your Representative through CapWiz and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 1592. Your religious liberties are at stake. Act today and send this your friends. Urge them to contact their Representatives immediately!
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