Hate crimes laws...

[Joe Capricorn]

When I'm bored, I track the activities of various organizations that stand for something I am strongly opposed to, whether they are an anti-gay group, or an organization that hates different religions, etc...


Among the anti-gay groups, an issue that kinda baffles me is why do they oppose hate-crime legislation that adds gender, sexual orientation and gender identity to the protection list?

I know some might argue that you cannot protect a behavior, but while that is a debate on its own, it seems to me that the reason why so many of these organizations oppose protections for gays against hate crimes is because they think that preaching against homosexuality will be added as a hate crime.

Unless they are sending their members out to beat up or kill gays, I doubt they have anything to worry about.

The United States protects free speech, and even if "hate-speech" were outlawed, I doubt a minister who preaches against homosexuality using the Bible has anything to worry about. But the fact is, the hate-crime legislation currently being debated has nothing to do with hate-speech or affecting free speech.

It adds crimes committed against homosexuals (and other groups) for being homosexual to the list of hate crimes.

The killing of Matthew Sheppard was a hate crime. I don't see many anti-gay groups that praise the killers for what they did. The exception are ultra-extreme hate groups that aren't well liked by fellow anti-gay activists, such as the Westboro Baptist Church.
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Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return - Leonardo Da Vinci

[Hyraxylos]

[Joe Capricorn]

This is absolutely awesome:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/hatecrime.asp

Snopes did an article about the Action Alert put out by the AFA.

They investigated the claims of the AFA as an urban legend, and declared it as False.

The only thing better than this is if Mythbusters does an episode doing the same thing. Since the usual Mythbusters episode consists of blowing something up, I doubt that would happen.
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Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return - Leonardo Da Vinci

[Hyraxylos]

Couldn't help but chuckle at that. I even followed their link to the "Action Alert" and noticed that their goal of recruiting one million signees was considerably distant!

In the Mythbusters comment... do you mean blow stuff up literally? Because the AFA sure did a job of blowing the whole issue up figuratively...
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The statement below this one is false.
The statement above this one is true.
This statement is false.

[Ragnarok]

[Joe Capricorn]

Such as does Mentos really create geysers with diet coke, and is it possible for a man to inflate enough weather balloons to lift himself on a lawn chair with a case of beer, and descend with a pellet gun...

and so on...
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Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return - Leonardo Da Vinci

[boondoxjuggalo]

well I think that hate crime laws should be removed beacuse its like segregating people of diffrent races out and not considering us all humans.
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Any government that out laws any literature for any reason has reason to fear that information.

Austin J.A. Doskocil

[Ragnarok]