Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
House Passes Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 249-175, passed and sent on to the Senate HR 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The bill makes a number of changes in federal law. It expands federal support for local prosecutors investigating hate crimes and expands the definition of hate crimes to include attacks targeted at individuals because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It also expands the circumstances in which attacks motivated by an individual's race, color, religion, or national origin are treated as a federal hate crime. Reuters reports on the House action. The bill has been particularly controversial among some conservative Christian groups who claim that it threatens pastors who preach against homosexuality. (See prior posting.)