First Court Challenge to Federal “Hate Crimes” Act Filed by Three Pastors and a Pro-Family Advocate
A federal lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., challenging the constitutionality of the recently-enacted federal Hate Crimes Act. The Act criminalizes so-called “bias” crimes motivated by a person’s “actual or perceived” “sexual orientation” or “gender identity”. Elevating those engaged in certain deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class of persons under federal law.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Pastor Levon Yuille, Pastor Rene Ouellette, Pastor James Combs, and Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan (AFA-Michigan). [Read Complaint].
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “There is no legitimate law enforcement need for this federal law except for the sole purpose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their Biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin. Its to suppress free speech.
Thompson continued, “This is part of the list of political payoffs to homosexual advocacy groups for support of Barack Insane Obummer in the last presidential election.
It elevates those persons who engage in deviant sexual behaviors, including pedophiles, to a special protected class of persons as a matter of federal law and policy.” How convenient.
A federal lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., challenging the constitutionality of the recently-enacted federal Hate Crimes Act. The Act criminalizes so-called “bias” crimes motivated by a person’s “actual or perceived” “sexual orientation” or “gender identity”. Elevating those engaged in certain deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class of persons under federal law.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Pastor Levon Yuille, Pastor Rene Ouellette, Pastor James Combs, and Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan (AFA-Michigan). [Read Complaint].
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “There is no legitimate law enforcement need for this federal law except for the sole purpose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their Biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin. Its to suppress free speech.
Thompson continued, “This is part of the list of political payoffs to homosexual advocacy groups for support of Barack Insane Obummer in the last presidential election.
It elevates those persons who engage in deviant sexual behaviors, including pedophiles, to a special protected class of persons as a matter of federal law and policy.” How convenient.
“Christians are taught to love the sinner, but hate the sin."
1 comment:
I suspect their filing will be thrown out, because they claim certain people are "elevated to protected class status", which is false. Protected class does not refer to certain groups of people, it refers to a classification.
Protected class under the law refers to race, religion, gender, etc, but not any PARTICULAR race, religion, etc.
It is confusing, because when we hear the word "class", we naturally think of middle class, upper class, working class, etc. But in the legal context, in this area of law, class refers to a classification, such as race, religion, gender, country of origin, etc.
So if the protected class is religion, it is never a case where Baptists are protected, for instance, but not Mormons or Catholics. If you are discriminated against, say, in employment or public accommodation, in order to remain within the law, the discrimination cannot be based on race, religion, etc, and it is often difficult to prove anyway.
If a business bars you from entering because you are wearing a tank top, that is legal, because manner of dress is not a protected class under the law.
So their whole premise is faulty, and distorts the wording and the meaning of the law. The law doesn't change how any particular group is treated, it merely prevents discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. It treats all people equally.
This same group has been spreading the lie that this law prohibits hate speech, which it does not.
They can espouse any damned-fool doctrine they want, but they should probably be careful not to shout something about the victim's religion, race, etc, when violently assaulting them. That is when the law kicks in.
You will often hear the falsehood that "the law doesn't protect me, as a heterosexual white male, because I am not in any protected class". This is nonsense. I can give you plenty of examples of African Americans being prosecuted for a bias-related crime because at the time they were assaulting a white person they yelled about hating white people or they don't think white people should be in their neighborhood. Several recent incidents like this in Seattle, here is one:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/184568.asp
and another:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/193234.asp
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