Hate Crimes

"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." ~Thomas Jefferson to Francis Gilmer, 1816.

About the issue:

What most refer to as a "hate crime" is not a separate offense itself, like burglary or murder. The term "hate crime" refers to a criminal act committed at least partially due to the victim's inclusion in some protected group, such as race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, or gender. If one is found guilty of committing a hate crime, the punishment is significantly increased beyond the penalty allowed simply for committing the offense.

In 2009, President Obama signed an expansion of existing hate crimes legislation that now provides additional protection for sexual orientation and gender identity, and allows the federal government to prosecute all hate crimes, even those that individual states choose not to charge as a hate crime.

In Texas, a bill was proposed, and almost passed, that would have required that children found guilty of committing a hate crime to attend a government re-education program to "further the child's acceptance" of the protected classes of people and to perform community service projects directly benefitting the class(es) offended by the child's crime.

Every "group" protected by supposed hate crimes laws already receives the same protection as every other American citizen. Hate crimes laws literally create specially protected classes, enshrining in law the proposition that a crime committed against one group is worse than a crime committed against another and upsetting the doctrine of equal protection under the law. Many see the expansion of hate crimes laws as a tool to silence opposition to homosexuality and eventually silence pastors from speaking Biblically on the subject.

Hate crimes laws and eventually hate speech laws have been passed in other countries and the results have been dire. A Swedish pastor was sentenced to one month in jail for preaching about homosexuality from his pulpit. At least one Canadian bishop and a Canadian priest have been investigated by the Canadian government for alleged human rights violations for speaking a Biblical view of homosexuality. In Philadelphia, seven Christians were charged with a hate crime and threatened with 99 years in prison for simply sharing their faith at the homosexual "Outfest" on city grounds. There is every reason to expect that expansion of current hate crimes laws at national and state levels would pave the way to similar results in the United States.

What We're Doing:

Liberty Institute opposes efforts to expand hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation or gender identity in protected classes. The bill filed in the Texas Legislature that would have required children to attend re-education courses as punishment for committing hate crimes was defeated largely due to Liberty Institute's work to inform and encourage citizens to contact their elected officials.

Hate crimes laws put citizens in different classes of people and protect some more than others. For example, an attack on a healthy 22-year-old homosexual man would be more protected under the law than an attack on an eight-year-old child. Liberty Institute believes that all crimes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law without putting citizens in classes, attempting to protect some more than others, and attempting to punish people's thoughts.

Liberty Institute will continue fighting these battles regularly. We cannot allow the government to continue encroaching on the rights of its people, and will work to ensure that free speech is upheld at every turn.