Muzzling Free Speech

By Harry Jackson

The hate crimes bill may sound like a good idea--but it is not. It focuses on violence against several protected classes of people, but the Senate should recognize that violence against all Americans should be worthy of consideration.

This bill would codify homosexual behavior as normative. While I am totally against violence targeted at homosexuals, I am against recognizing sexual orientation as a protected class.

This law could also challenge freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. Although it does not implicate free speech issues directly, laws have been interpreted differently than intended by the courts.

This is dangerous territory. We have laws on the books to punish someone found guilty of a crime, or crimes. It should be applied equally to all, not metered out in various degrees of punishment depending on who committed the crime or who was victimized.

And furthermore, we should not prosecute someone for their thought process. This is scary folks and we must beat back this attack on freedom.