The homosexual activists and their allies are making the most of the attack by a troubled young punk at a homosexual bar in New Bedford. Senator Ted is already using the horrible incident as proof that we need federal "hate crimes" legislation to cover sexual orientation. No, all we need is fair enforcement of criminal laws already on the books! (Massachusetts already has a "hate crimes" statute covering "sexual orientation.")
US Representative Barney Frank, who represents New Bedford, said the incident was a tragic aberration. ''This is the vicious act of one degenerate; it's not a city problem," he said. ''This is in no way reflective of any significant opinion in New Bedford."
Yes, it was the vicious act of one degenerate. But no, "opinion" has no role to play here! Use of that word implies that people who hold opinions critical of special rights for homosexuals are indeed dangerous, but they just don't happen to live in New Bedford!
The 18-year-old punk who attacked innocent people in a bar was clearly a mess, a Neo-Nazi wannabe, his room full of anti-black and anti-Semitic garbage. He went to a school for kids with discipline problems. The state had investigated his home in 2000 on suspicions of child neglect. A young man with serious mental health issues and social problems. Sick people exist in a world of their own. It's not anyone else's fault what a crazy man does.
Yet the media can't resist trying to link this crime to legitimate critics of "gay marriage". One photo (in the print editon of the Boston Globe) highlights a spokesman from the "Marriage Equality Coalition of the Southcoast" speaking at a candlelight vigil outside the bar. What does the political and moral argument over "gay marriage" have to do with some crazy guy's meltdown?
Then the Boston Globe inserts a quote intimating that this crime is the fault of anyone who objects to special rights for homosexuals:
''Again and again we have seen that as efforts to marginalize or, in the case of Massachusetts, remarginalize our community escalate, sick and violent people take those efforts as license to step up violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people," said Clarence Patton, acting executive director of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. ''It's been happening across the nation, as our community has come under increased political and rhetorical fire."
Why aren't "hate crimes" committed by homosexual activists (criminally harassing emails, stolen credit cards, house break-ins) against leaders of the pro-family movement investigated and prosecuted?
Maybe it's time to review the dangers of so-called "hate crimes" statutes. See Robert Knight's article, " 'Hate Crime' Laws: An Assault on Freedom."
Liberal activists increasingly invoke such phrases as "hostile speech" and a "climate of violence" to describe pro-family opinion on homosexual issues. The net effect is to reclassify legitimate opinion and free speech as "hate speech" that can be censored....
