Do not let this discriminatory legislation go unchallenged. 'Intolerance' is just a buzz word for 'forcing homosexuality down your throat'.
Boycott the businesses listed as 'partners' in this illegal legislative agenda, and write them to let them know why.
Bill would include sexual orientation in hate crimes statute
3.14 a.m. ET (715 GMT) April 6, 1999
By Kevin Galvin, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) ù President Clinton is asking Congress to expand federal hate crime laws to include offenses based on sexual orientation.
The president also is directing that colleges be required to report hate crimes annually and endorse a public-private partnership designed to educate middle school students against intolerance.
The partnership will involve AT&T, Court TV, Cable in the Classroom, the
National Middle Schools Association and the Anti-Defamation League working
with the Justice and Education departments to develop curricula to combat
intolerance.
Clinton was announcing the initiatives today with religious, education and law
enforcement leaders at a Roosevelt Room ceremony, White House officials said.
"The president is signing this directive to increase public awareness and
information about hate crimes among young people and doing whatever he can in
his power to advance this cause while we wait for Congress to act,'' said Bruce Reed, the White House director of public policy.
The idea for the middle schools program grew out of a White House conference
on hate crimes that generated a lot of anecdotal information about ethnic and
racial insensitivities among school children.
The aim, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity, is to "nip intolerance in the bud'' by educating children about its consequences.
In addition, Clinton will direct the Justice and Education departments to require that college campuses provide specific information about hate crimes in the campus crime statistics they provide to law enforcement each year.
The information will be used to generate hard data on how violent crimes relate to intolerance on college campuses, the official said.
Clinton's hate crimes legislation died in committee last year in the House and
Senate. The initiative was reintroduced last month by a bipartisan group of
lawmakers that include Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., and Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Connie Morella, R-Md.
Under the bill, current law would be expanded so the Justice Department could
prosecute crimes based on a person's sex, sexual orientation or disability. Now, the statute only covers crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.
The bill also would make federal prosecution of hate crimes easier. Current law limits prosecution to situations where the victim is targeted for engaging in certain federally protected activities, such as serving on a jury, voting or attending public school.
More than 40 states have hate crimes laws but only 21 cover sexual orientation, 22 cover gender and 21 cover disability.
Sponsors hope that outrage over recent highly publicized killings will fuel supportfor the measure this year.
One of two young men charged in the Wyoming slaying of gay college student
Matthew Shepard pleaded guilty Monday. He was sentenced to two consecutive
life terms in prison.
Two men have been charged with beating to death a gay textile worker, Billy
Jack Gaither, in Alabama earlier this year and burning his body on a pile of tires.
John William King, a white supremacist, was sentenced to death in Texas for
chaining a black man, James Byrd Jr., behind a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. Two other men wait trial in the case.
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