Congressman C.W. Bill Young claims Mathew Shepard hate crimes act violates the Equal Protection Clause
April 29, 2009 at 5:54 am by Lorna Bracewell
A friend of mine wrote to C.W. Bill Young regarding a pending federal hate crimes bill (H.R. 1913 AKA The Mathew Shephard Act) that would expand the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. I’ve posted the Congressman’s response in its entirety after the jump. I found it offensive both intellectually and morally.
Congressman Young explains that he will not support the Mathew Shepard Act because under such a law “criminals who kill a homosexual, transvestite or transsexual could be punished more harshly than criminals who kill a police officer, a member of the military or any other person.” “I fundamentally believe, ” he continues, ”that we should instead value all life equally.”
While the Congressman purports to be making an Equal Protection argument, his juxtaposition of “homosexual, transvestite or transsexual” with “police officer, a member of the military or any other person” belies the real logic at work here. This is an appeal to homphobia, plain and simple. Dressing it up in a tenuous Constitutional argument doesn’t make it any more acceptable.
I received word early this morning from the Human Rights Campaign that the House is scheduled to vote on the Mathew Shepard Act today (April 29, 2009). If you’d like to contact Congressman Young and give him a few valid reasons to support or not support it, you can reach him at (202) 225-5961.
