Remember when "hating the troops" was just a Dem thang? Well, it seems dickwads Boehner and Pence hate teh gays more than they love the troops, since they were forced to vote against the defense bill.
WASHINGTON -- So-called "hate crimes" are rare in California's Central Valley, but they will be punished more severely under legislation passed Thursday by the House of Representatives.
The controversial measure tacked onto page 1,350 of a must-pass defense bill stiffens penalties for those convicted of committing violent offenses because of the "sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability" of the victim.
The provision expands an existing federal hate crime law, which covers race, religion and ethnicity. Now, hurting any member of these specially protected populations could lead to a 10-year federal prison sentence on top of other sentences.
"This law says it's no longer appropriate to treat gays as social pariahs," said Jay Hubbell, founder and treasurer of Fresno Stonewall Democrats. "I think it's important, because it will create momentum for full equality; it's saying gay people are entitled to the same civil rights as others."
Supporters and opponents, though, clash sharply over the prevalence of hate crimes as well as the wisdom of enhancing penalties to protect some populations more than others. On the one hand, the FBI counted a total of 7,624 hate crime incidents in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
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Advocates have been pushing for an expanded hate crimes bill for several years, under the name the Matthew Shepard and James J. Byrd Hate Crimes Act. Shepard was a 21-year-old student murdered in Wyoming in 1998, ostensibly because he was overtly gay. Byrd was a 49-year-old African-American killed in Texas in 1998.
By attaching the hate crimes measure to the $680 billion defense authorization package, lawmakers provided the legislation the momentum it lacked on its own.
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