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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1999)
k’ r i i i u h march i 19. 1999' J u t news S trong M essage or E mpty G esture ? With an Eagle Eye for the Best Home Loans, We can find the right one for You! Let Txyk 'Home Mortgage ta^e you under their wing. First Time Buyers ♦ FHA/VA Loans ♦ Self-Employed C all today fo r a fre e Bankruptcies & Foredosures ♦ Complicated Borrowers qualification over Investment Properties ♦ Credit Problems the phone 503/698-5429 3 % Down Programs ♦ Pre-approvals for Purchase PHOTO BY BOB ROEHR Federal hate crimes bill reintroduced, with the backing of both of Oregon's senators— but not without controversy by Bob Roehr •Payer 503/870-1666 Vde handle a ll co n form ing a n d Christine C. Hall nonconform ing loans. •M ortgage •Broiler •P residen t’s Chib î-V^se.K\+s of Mikwd C u c irc i s * J e w e lr y * T lo r-w e D e c o e T k c i liT H e F k ir-v c js h k íi m o s t uve. ÍK \ f¡ K u + e ly im p o s a n t . ” *511* A r fln u * C \t\ î Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin H atch, R-U tah, at a hearing last July on the Hate Crimes Prevention A ct of 1 9 9 8 “We hope that Congress will have the will he Hate Crimes Prevention A ct of and the conscience to do what many state law 1999 was launched March 11 at a makers this year have failed to do,” says Kerry bipartisan Capitol Hill news con Lobel, executive director of the National Gay ference orchestrated by the Human and Lesbian Task Force. That is, to address hate Rights Campaign, a national gay crimes “by passing legislation that is of great and lesbian political group. (T he act was intro importance, both symbolically and practically.” duced in the U .S. House on March 12 and in Twenty-one states have hate crimes laws that the Senate March 15.) include sexual orientation. Legislatures in T he bill, whose backers include Oregon Wyoming, Idaho, Oklahoma and Montana have Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Sm ith, seeks to defeated hate crimes measures this year, while add gender, sexual orientation and disability to the governor of New Mexico has vetoed a mea protected classes under current federal law. It is sure passed by that state Legislature. a revival of the hate crimes legislation intro Last July, U.S. Deputy Attorney General duced during the last session of Congress. Eric H. Holder Jr. testified before Hatchs com T he bill would offer legal grounds for federal mittee in support of the federal hate crimes mea assistance for investigations of such hate crimes sure. He said that under existing law, the Justice when local authorities request it, or federal Department had prosecuted an average of 20 intervention when there is reason to believe hate crime cases per year during the last two that local officials are not adequately pursuing decades, thus expansion would not be a signifi such crimes. cant drain of resources. “We owe it to the families of [James] Byrd Some point to Holder’s statement as demon and [Matthew] Shepard and [Billy Jack] Gaither strating little need for such federal legislation. and perhaps others we don’t know,” said bill co Even within the lesbian and gay community sponsor Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. He is there is opposition to hate crimes legislation. the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary New York City attorney and activist Bill Committee. Dobbs of Queer Watch says that the police Senate Judiciary Com m ittee Chairman enforcement environment has changed signifi Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has scheduled a hearing cantly in the last 15 years since the legal strate in April. A t the end of a similar proceeding last gy of enacting hate crimes laws was formulated. July, he stated the legislation was too broadly “We have to rethink this push,” he says. written and could not gain the 60 votes neces He argues: “Criminal law in this country sary to prevent a filibuster in the Senate. covers every kind of victim. Discrimination law Vice President A1 Gore said via a written does not. Why are we fix using on something statement: “We must send a clear and strong where we are already protected ?” message to all who would commit crimes of Dobbs uses the example of New York, where hate: It is wrong, it is illegal, and we will catch efforts in Albany for a state hate crimes bill are you and punish you to the full force of our laws.” in his eyes “a tragic waste of political capital” Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics for that would be better used in trying to repeal the 1997 show that anti-gay hate crimes comprised state sodomy statute. 14 percent of all reported hate crimes. That is up Richard Sincere, president of the libertarian from 8.9 percent in 1991. group Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty, Gay and lesbian anti-violence groups main is opposed to the principal of hate crimes laws. tain the problem is much worse, hut they con He calls them “feel-gixxl laws whose primary cede the rising numbers at least reflect an results are thought-control, violating our free increased willingness of both victims and law dom of speech and of conscience." enforcement to report these incidents and treat them seriously. 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