[Faith-talk] Fw: Jan. 8: New Jersey PassesDangerous Hate-Crimes Bill

[Everett Gavel]

Hello Joseph, and all,

What you say is all well and good Joseph.  The reason I 
shared it and fear it's inevitability, however, is 
expressed in hundreds of news references you can find 
online to pastors being arrested for speaking out 
against homosexuality as the sin the Bible, the sin 
God, says it is.  Below are 4 examples I just found by 
doing a search for a few words like, "pastor," 
"arrested," "homosexuality," "Canada," and, "Bible."


WorldNetDaily: Diss a 'gay'? Go to jail!
Three years ago, a Swedish hate crimes law was used to 
put Pastor Ake Green, who preached that homosexuality 
.... 11 Christians arrested at homosexual event ...
www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54260

WorldNetDaily: Bible standards attacked in 'bastardized 
courts'For example, a pastor can be considered legally 
culpable if he preaches against the homosexual agenda 
and a member of his congregation subsequently commits 
...
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59338

WorldNetDaily: The Bible as 'hate literature'?A prison 
sentence for quoting the Bible in Canada? ... $5000 for 
buying a newspaper ad that quoted verses from the Bible 
condemning homosexual behavior. ...
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29328

Swedish Pastor Sentenced to Month in Prison for 
Preaching Against ...
Collecting Bible cites on this topic as he (Pastor 
Green) does makes this hate ... of Homosexual Hate 
Crime Law in Other Countries as Warning to Canada ...
www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04070505.html

Christian Ministers Arrested for Praying Near Gay Fest
Media Labels Pastor 'Gay-Hating' for Preaching Against 
Homosexuality ... Christian Arrested for Distributing 
Bible Quotes Opposing Homosexuality ...
www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07071001.html


This sort of thing will, I believe, become as common 
here in the "good old" USA one day.  This bass-ackwards 
world is getting more and more backwards, more and more 
disgusting, and more and more illogical.

May God Bless Our Efforts,
Everett


----- Original Message ----- 
I don't get it.  Other than being generally vague as to 
what exactly
 gender expression and identity are, all this does is 
expand what things
 that are already crimes can carry the additional 
charge of being a hate
 crime.

 Quite frankly, if someone takes a baseball bat to some 
guy because he's
 somehow become convinced that he should be treated as 
a woman in every
 respect, such a thing deserves to be labeled a hate 
crime.  That is what
 it would be.  That's an important thing to realize 
here: Hate crime
 statutes only apply when a violent crime has taken 
place.

 This legislation, from my understanding, does not 
protect the children
 from exposure to people who have very confused ideas 
about who they are
 made to be, except perhaps by intimidating those 
people into thinking that
 someone who tries to harm them for what they're doing 
will face lesser
 charges than those applied to hate crimes.  We don't 
need that kind of
 protection for our children.

 The issue of extra sensitivity training related to 
sexual identity..  I
 have a small problem with that, but frankly we already 
have so much of
 that sort of thing that this additional bit is really 
a drop in the
 bucket.  If these new officers don't get their 
sensitivity training from
 this bill, they will surely get it from something 
else.  That's no reason
 to hold back just consequences from those who would do 
violence upon
 another just because that person somehow offends them.


 I am far more concerned that our college campuses now 
organize student
 events to test people's straightdar.  Can you identify 
the one person
 among these who is NOT gay?  Or the notion that it is 
acceptable to take
 pride in being gay, but not to take pride in being 
straight.  Or that God
 is taboo but pornography is shown and then discussed 
as part of the
 academic discourse of certain college courses. 
Frankly, if we are
 concerned about same-sex attraction or gender 
identification, expression,
 and let's be honest, confusion, we have more 
significant problems that
 need to be addressed than whether or not violence 
against such people
 should be considered a hate crime.

 Just my opinion.

 Joseph

 On Tue, Jan 08, 2008 at 09:18:32PM -0500, Everett 
Gavel wrote:
 FYI

 New Jersey Passes Dangerous Hate-Crimes Bill

 SUMMARY: Legislation adds gender identity as a
 protected status.

 New Jersey lawmakers voted Monday to give 
transgendered
 individuals
 special rights. If Gov. Jon Corzine signs the
 legislation, the state
 would be among the first to grant such strong rights.
 According to
 gay-activist groups, New Jersey has 153 laws to 
protect
 homosexuals and
 transgendered people.

 The first section of the bill adds "gender identity or
 expression" to
 the existing hate-crimes law, which includes sexual
 orientation, race
 and religion. The bill also requires all new police
 officers to attend
 a mandatory, two-hour hate-crimes sensitivity 
training.

 "This particular piece of legislation is very strong
 because it
 includes 'gender expression,' which is not defined,"
 said Greg
 Quinlan of New Jersey Family First, the legislative 
arm
 of the New
 Jersey Family Policy Council. "What does 'gender
 expression' mean?"

 In December, a federal hate-crimes measure fell apart
 over the effort
 to protect "actual or perceived sexual orientation or
 gender
 identity."

 Caleb H. Price, research analyst for Focus on the
 Family, said the New
 Jersey legislation is not necessary.

 "Not only is there no need for adding the category of
 'gender
 identity or expression'," he said, "but this category
 is
 inherently ambiguous and unlimited - and is subject to
 an
 ever-morphing understanding of a person's 
'perceptions'
 about their
 biological gender."

 Quinlan said the bill puts families, particularly 
women
 and children,
 in danger.

 "What is the protection from these people going into a
 restroom where
 they identify themselves as a different gender, yet
 they're using the
 facilities at the same time you are?" he said. "It's
 exposing
 children - an unintended consequence of the law."

 The legislation also creates a Commission on Bullying
 in Schools, which
 has nine months to investigate and make 
recommendations
 to the
 governor.

 "New Jersey already has anti-bullying laws in place,"
 Quinlan said,
 "but the bullying commission is set up to be totally
 sexually
 oriented."

 The bill is on Corzine's desk.

 "The people of New Jersey have got to stand up,"
 Quinlan said.
 "It's time to speak up."

 TAKE ACTION
 If you live in New Jersey, urge Gov. Corzine to veto
 this bill. You can
 find contact information through our Action Center.

 http://capwiz.com/fof/utr/1/KETZHZHUMO/GFXSHZHUMR/1651323426/