D.C. This morning, as President Clinton appeals for sexual orientation to be added to existing federal hate crimes laws at a Roosevelt Room ceremony, Concerned Women for America offers its analysis on proposed federal hate crimes legislation. Currently, the homosexual lobby is the most ardent supporter of hate crimes legislation. However, civil rights laws are based on immutable characteristics that is, characteristics that are not susceptible to change, such as skin color or national origin. If sexual orientation is added to hate crimes laws, the unproven claim that sexual orientation is innate rather than chosen behavior is legitimized. All crimes are hate crimes.
Criminals operate on the basis of hate or other impure motives.
Criminal actions should always be vigorously and fairly prosecuted. But hate crimes laws allow the same action to be punished differently. B. Both assaults are equally horrible crimes, regardless of the words spoken at the time of the attack. Hate crimes laws infringe on free speech. A hate crimes act would criminalize thoughts rather than actions.