| U.S. Senate Passes LGBT Hate Crimes Bill 68-29 Posted: 23 Oct 2009 10:19 PM PDT
How will Future of Equal Rights Affect Christians & Ministry?  Will Washington's new LGBT bill limit the free speech of pastors to speak against homosexuality? Yesterday, Thursday, October 22, 2009, the United States Senate passed a bill that has been the subject of political debate and controversy for nearly a decade. Since the early days of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., there has been a civil rights push to institute a federal law against all sexual and gender-related hate crimes. According to both CNN and FOX national political news networks, with a vote of 68-29, the Senate passed a bill which would “make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender.”The new law essentially serves to offer gay, lesbian and transgendered men and women federal protection against hate crimes based on their sexual orientation. The bill, which President Obama vowed to sign once it reached his desk, was a smaller component of a $680 billion defense authorization bill, according to several national news media. Former President George W. Bush once noted that he would veto a similar proposition if it ever reached his office. The movement towards such a bill was spurred by the brutal deaths of Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Jr. Shepherd, a teen from Wyoming, was brutally beaten to death in October 1998 for his sexual orientation. Byrd, an African American man, was dragged to death in Texas of that same year. The passing of the bill has raised countless concerns among more conservative Republicans, the majority of whom opposed the legislation during its tenure in the Senate. Dozens of religious groups and Christian organizations have also voiced their anxieties, citing their concerns that such a bill will likely infringe on their rights to speak openly and freely against homosexuality. Under current federal laws, gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals already receive the same adequate protections afforded all other U.S. citizens. Many church leaders are worried the bill will be used to stifle pastors who preach homosexuality as sin from their pulpits, as this would be deemed “inciting violence.” Opposition to the bill has maintained that it is the First Amendment right of a pastor or religious leader to speak openly from the pulpit on issues related to sexual orientation. Separation of church and state must remain at the forefront of the legislation, lest church pastors be federally prosecuted for their sermons. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has attempted to convince those opposed that the new bill and laws will only be used to prosecute individuals who commit violent acts of aggression based on sexual/gender prejudice. Holder says the bill will not interfere with the religious belief systems or free speech rights of any American. Recently, while addressing members of the national Human Rights Campaign organization, President Obama called for a “repeal of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, which bans gays from openly serving in the military” according to The Christian Post. Currently, the Human Rights Campaign is the largest group in the nation publicly promoting and advocating the rights of the LGBT community. Jon Solmonese, president of the HRC, called the new legislation “our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” according to the Huffington Post. He also noted, “Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence.” The question for Christians nationwide has become “How will this new legislation affect the way pastors, religious leaders and conservative men and women voice their opposition to homosexual lifestyles? Or will they be able to at all?” During his address to the HRC, Obama also stated his desire to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines legal marriage as marriage between one man and one woman. |
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