WASHINGTON (RNS)—The House of Representatives has voted to extend hate crimes legislation to add protections for homosexuals, bisexuals and people with gender-identity issues in the same way people are protected because of race or creed.
Democratic leaders called it a civil rights victory, but conservatives and some church leaders argued the bill gives gays special rights and threatens the free speech of ministers who preach homosexuality is immoral.
The White House sent signals that President Bush will veto the bill if it passes the Senate. A statement from the president's office called the legislation “unnecessary and constitutionally questionable.”
Existing law, on the books since 1968, gives the federal government jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violent crimes committed because of a person's religion or race. The new legislation would put sexual orientation on the same plane, adding stricter penalties for people convicted of crimes against homosexuals. It also adds protections for people with disabilities.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., a lead sponsor of the bill, said its passage marked the “last and final” extension of civil rights language. “This strengthens the old law, which does not include protection for bias against someone's actual or perceived gender or gender identity,” he said.
But Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, warned that ministers could be targeted by prosecutors if someone in a congregation commits a crime against a homosexual because of a sermon he or she heard in church. Clergy could be seen as “aiding and abetting” a criminal, Gohmert said.
Similar legislation in Canada and Sweden has landed Christians in jail for “preaching the word of God,” that homosexuality is sinful, he asserted.
“This bill is an effort to silence people who step up and say the homosexual lifestyle is wrong,” Gohmert said.
Some prominent African-American leaders said they would call on their church members to oppose the bill.
“Homosexuals are hijacking the civil rights movement,” said Harry Jackson, senior pastor at Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C., which has 3,000 members. “As an African-American, I have long questioned the attempts of the homosexual community to piggyback on the legislative breakthroughs blacks have achieved in civil rights.”