SEESHOLTZ: The Campaign to Kill the Matthew Shepard Act

[SeveneightyWhoa]

The Campaign to Kill the Matthew Shepard Act

May 16 2007
Counterbias.com
MEL SEESHOLTZ


At first glance, hate-crime laws may seem unnecessary. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

“Equal protection” should mean equal protection afforded to equal citizens. Hate-crime laws seem to make crimes against some citizens worse than the same crimes committed against other citizens. After the House passed H.R. 1952, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council argued that “the actions of a majority of the House today undermine the promise of equal protection under the law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”

But all citizens are not equal...

Continue: http://www.counterbias.com/884.html