Steve Russell Hates the Hate Crime Bill

With the ink barely dry on the Matthew Shepard Act, State Senator Steve Russell of Oklahoma is already scrambling to preserve his right to openly hate gays. He is planning on introducing legislation that would exempt Oklahoma, and would disallow state prosecutors from entering hate crime evidence at criminal trials, or assisting in federal hate crime prosecution.

Just to be clear, it's not hate crime laws that bother Steve, it's the extension of hate crime protection to a new class of people, namely homosexuals. Steve is worried that the legislation creates a "special class of people" and "could be used to target people's belief, freedom to associate in groups, right to assemble on issues, as well as target people's right to free speech." He's fighting for his fellow Oklahomans, like Rep. Sally Kern, who just want to be able to say out loud that gays are a bigger threat to America than terrorism.

Fear not, Steve! Preach on, Sally! The government is at least one, if not many many many steps ahead of you. Let's look at the bill itself, HR 1913. You don't have to read the whole thing, it's just a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo about what constitutes a hate crime and proper prosecution. I'd like to direct your attention to the very last line. "Nothing in this Act ... shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution."

So the Bill expressly preserves the First Amendment right to believe whatever you want to about gays, and the right to use the Bible, or whatever your rhetoric of choice, to support your opinion. But as soon as you choose to make assault or murder your tool of oppression, be prepared to spend a few extra years behind bars.

I'm sure that had Steve read that bit he wouldn't have gone forward with his campaign. Right, Steve? Unless the real fear is not the Hate Crime Bill, but rather the progression it marks toward making homosexuality a "suspect class" -- a categorization that would likely grant federal equal protection and legalize gay marriage. And so goes the party line -- the more rights given to the gays, the more rights stripped away from everyone else. Scary? For some. True? Not at all.

Oh, and Steve, one more thing: necrophilia is not, as you claim, a sexual orientation. It's also not, as you claim, defined that way by the American Psychiatric Association. It's also not, as fellow traditional values folk claim, condoned by the Federal Government.

Enough already. The First Amendment and Equal Rights and Protections for gays can co-exist. Let's stop this frenzy of misinformation before it hits the ballot box.

Photo courtesy of steverussell.us