Hypocrisy, hate crimes, and the apparent bigotry of John Boehner
By Michael J.W. Stickings
Check out this CBS News article. House Republican Leader John Boehner opposes a bill that would expand hate crime legislation to include gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Currently, the legislation includes race, color, religion, and national origin. His rationale is that hate crimes legislation should only cover "immutable characteristics." Apparently, sexual orientation is not immutable. And yet, the very idea of immutability is stupid. What is immutable? Is gender immutable? No, it's more complicated than that, isn't it? So, too, sexual orientation, which, while natural, isn't always so black and white. And national origin? To a point, but many people these days don't really have one single national origin. But religion certainly isn't immutable, and yet Boehner supports the current legislation. And so we must conclude that he's a hypocrite, and worse: His objection to the bill likely stems from his objection to gays and lesbians generally. Opposition to hate crimes legislation generally at least shows consistency, and I can respect that. (In an ideal world, one without hate, I'd object to hate crimes legislation, too. We're not there yet, though, not even close.) But picking and choosing which groups deserve to be protected and which ones don't, as the pro-religion, anti-gay Boehner is doing, is simply despicable.
Check out this CBS News article. House Republican Leader John Boehner opposes a bill that would expand hate crime legislation to include gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Currently, the legislation includes race, color, religion, and national origin. His rationale is that hate crimes legislation should only cover "immutable characteristics." Apparently, sexual orientation is not immutable. And yet, the very idea of immutability is stupid. What is immutable? Is gender immutable? No, it's more complicated than that, isn't it? So, too, sexual orientation, which, while natural, isn't always so black and white. And national origin? To a point, but many people these days don't really have one single national origin. But religion certainly isn't immutable, and yet Boehner supports the current legislation. And so we must conclude that he's a hypocrite, and worse: His objection to the bill likely stems from his objection to gays and lesbians generally. Opposition to hate crimes legislation generally at least shows consistency, and I can respect that. (In an ideal world, one without hate, I'd object to hate crimes legislation, too. We're not there yet, though, not even close.) But picking and choosing which groups deserve to be protected and which ones don't, as the pro-religion, anti-gay Boehner is doing, is simply despicable.
Labels: bigotry, hate crimes, John Boehner, legislation
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
12:30 PM
4 Comments:
Hate crimes legislation is a bad idea with good intentions. The issue of whether someone was a victim of a crime due to their race, religion, gender, career (police come to mind) sexual orientation, etc., should come after a conviction during the punishment phase of the trial, as the judge or jury looks at aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
Hate crime legislation by itself leads to cop killing accusations for people who beat up their off-duty cop brother-in-law; also for people who shoot a gas station attendant, who happens to be gay, during an armed robbery.
Even with the Matthew Shephard incident, there is some evidence that his killers themselves may have been closeted gays, which VASTLY complicates what was a gruesome crime under any circunstances.
By
Anonymous, at 2:03 PM
I think that's a legitimate fear, but I've seen far fewer of these unintended consequences in practice than you might expect. We have a law in Florida that increases the consequences of assault and battery and a few other things when committed against "seniors." I'm unaware of any sad consequences. Countries like Germany have strict hate crime laws that restrict certain speech and forbid for instance using the Swastika. Again, I'm not aware of these fears coming true there, although I could be wrong.
What I would like to see are legal consequences similar to our treatment of libel and slander. Preach that people with green eyes are cockroaches out to destroy the nation or that blonds are vermin who should be deported -- The Baptists are out to seduce our women and steal our chickens -- the kind of thing that leads to persecution and violence and you face consequences.
By
Capt. Fogg, at 9:52 AM
Boehner's stance is based on faulty perceptions and is an under-the-table tactic intended to avoid extending protections to LGBT individuals. Happily, he and his cohorts were outvoted; now it's up to the senate to keep the ball rolling. Boehner and his ilk serve as yet another reminder that a large segment of society still regards gay men and women, among various minorities, as second-class citizens - or worse. That is the salient point of my recently released biographical novel, Broken Saint. It is based on my forty-year friendship with a gay man, and chronicles his internal and external struggles as he battles for acceptance (of himself and by others). More information is available at www.eloquentbooks.com/BrokenSaint.html or authorautobahn.webs.com/bookpeek.htm.
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