The hate crime law has been expanded:
President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed and celebrated hate crime legislation that extends protection to people based on sexual orientation, sealing a long-fought victory to gay advocates. The president spoke of a nation becoming a place where "we're all free to live and love as we see fit."
The new law expands federal hate crimes to include those committed against people because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It also loosens limits on when federal law enforcement can intervene and prosecute crimes, amounting to the biggest expansion of the civil-rights era law in decades.
"No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love," Obama said in East Room reception, surrounded by joyous supporters. "No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are, or because they live with a disability."
Civil rights groups and their Democratic backers on Capitol Hill have tried for a decade to expand the hate crimes law, but fell short because of a lack of coordination between the House and Senate, or opposition from President George W. Bush. This time, the bill got through when Democrats attached it to a must-pass $680 billion defense measure over the protests of Republicans. Obama signed the combined bill in a separate ceremony earlier on Wednesday.
Conservatives have opposed the legislation, arguing that it creates a special class of victims and could serve to silence clergymen or others opposed to homosexuality on religious or philosophical grounds.
As I understand it, this measure means that if someone commits a crime that is motivated by hatred against any of the protected groups, the penalty is increased. It also becomes a federal crime, so that if a local municipality doesn’t prosecute a crime hard enough, the feds can step in. Am I reading this right? How would this potentially silence clergymen from teaching that homosexual intercourse is immoral?
As it stands, Christians, as well as believers in other religions targeted for their faith, would also be a protected group. Might this law be applied to anti-Christian violence and harassment?
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