Religious Left

Many, I dare say the majority, of religious folks would deny federal hate crime laws to assist in protecting the GLBT community from bias crime against them. In fact, over at the Christian Law Association website you can find a radio broadcast saying Christians should always oppose hate crime laws. I’ve also heard Black folks say GLBT folks shouldn’t have hate crime protection. Since the members of both communities currently enjoy hate crime protection it seems a bit foul of them to deny others the very protection they themselves possess. When we were children we considered this type of individual selfish. For adults to act this way is beyond selfish and borders on hypocrisy! According to Merriam-Webster: Hypocrisy – 1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially: the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion 2: an act or instance of hypocrisy

Maybe you've heard the story of Matthew Shepard, the unwilling martyr of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Nine years ago this month, Shepard, a college freshman in Laramie, Wyo., was pistol-whipped, robbed and tied to a fencepost along a Wyoming back road. Savagely beaten and barely alive, Shepard died five days later as a result of severe head trauma. Although Shepard's murder was a clear example of homophobia-driven violence, local law enforcement in Laramie lacked the funds to prosecute the a ttack as a hate crime, furloughing five officers to cover the costs of the case. Had Shepard been killed as a result of his race or religion, the Laramie law enforcement could have requested federal assistance in prosecuting his murder as a hate crime. As it was, such federal intervention was not an option. Why? The answer is both simple and simply maddening: Crimes committed as a result of victim's sexual orientation, no matter how brutal, are ineligible for f...