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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2002)
june 2L 2ÛQ2 • lm u ììi : ivi 4.1 mews motion to force a vote on hate crimes legislation sponsored by U .S. Sen. Gordon Sm ith, R-Ore., was defeated June 11 by a 54-43 vote. T he Local Law Enforcement Enhance ment A ct would add real or perceived sexual orientation, gender and disability to the cate gories covered by a 33-year-old federal statute. T he hill also would provide federal technical and financial assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and pros ecute hate crimes. The only way to have prevented a filibuster would have been for 60 senators to OK a cloture motion, which is designed to limit debate and allow a vote while preventing opponents from offering unrelated amendments. Along with one Independent and four Republicans, every Demo crat supported the motion except for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, who changed his vote from “yes" to “no” so the legislation could he brought up later this session. Queer political organizations immediately reacted by engaging in their routine partisan bickering. Chad Johnson, National Ston e wall Democrats executive director, blamed Sm ith for failing to win over the bill’s previ ous Republican champions, including co sponsors Arlen Specter o f Pennsylvania and John Ensign o f Nevada, who “effectively destroyed an historic opportunity on this matter of basic civil rights.” Meanwhile, the Log C abin Republicans accused Democrats of using a “high-risk strat egy" and letting “election-year politics” get in the way. T h e queer G O P organization also claimed Orrin H atch of U tah offered amend ments only to “strengthen” the hill. “We are fortunate to have Sen. Gordon Sm ith of Oregon as a leader in this effort, because without him we would not he so close to a breakthrough,” said Rich Tafel, Log Cabin executive director. “We applaud his tenacious leadership on advancing this important legis lation. His proven skills at bringing people together will he crucial in the coming weeks on this issue.” According to Sm ith spokesman Chris Matthews, the act will be reintroduced as an amendment soon. He said the cloture motion’s failure was unfortunate hut blamed it on Democrats behaving badly. “As soon as the bill came to the floor they filed cloture on it to end debate, and there is a number o f people who had problems with that, because it’s generally speaking poor form to try to end debate before it even begins,” Matthews told Just Out. “And that caused a number of people to vote against the cloture motion who had supported the hate crimes legislation in the past.” his month Sm ith has been attacked from JL all sides— he also got an earful from C on cerned Women for America of Oregon, which A dding to Sm ith’s ¿ 1 troubles this month - was the news that Lon i Mabon, Oregon Citizens g Alliance chairman, will be S running against him in the Senate race this fall as the Constitution Party nomi nee. This could pull away conservatives and give the edge to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, the Democ ratic hopeful. Mabon is upset that Smith “has embraced the homosexual agenda” by sponsoring the hate crimes bill. He doesn’t believe in the establishment of sexual orientation as an equiva lent to race, gender and national origin. “T here’s enough pro tections without creating a Mr. Smith went to Washington, but will he be leaving soon? whole new classification of laws,” Mabon told Just Out. “Gordon Smith is called the bill “special protection for homo not a true Republican. There’s no doubt.” sexuals.” Director Suzanne Brownlow sent an Regardless of M abon’s name calling, alert to her minions linking the folly of hate Matthews noted, Smith strongly supports hate crimes legislation to the “success" of ex-gay crimes legislation and the Employment Non- ministries. Discrimination Act. “Labels aren’t really impor “They are not a vulnerable group that is dis tant to the senator; good policy is.” tinguished by inherent characteristics,” she said. Lou Beres, Oregon Christian Coalition exec “They are only distinguished by their choice to utive director, already is jumping on the Sm ith behave differently. The fact that many homo bashing bandwagon. “1 am afraid he could lose sexuals have come out of the dangerous life of his ‘base’ in the upcoming election and lose to homosexuality and are now living abundant, Bill Bradbury if he doesn’t support and acknowl healthier, heterosexual lives proves that homo edge the beliefs of a good portion of his support sexuality is not a bom characteristic, as the color ers,” he wrote in an e-mail June 8. j n of someone’s skin.” A member of the community that you can trust LGBT Pride is a celebration of community, and community is all about trust. Call a community-owned investment team for ce that you can rely on. Buying or selling your home is cm im p o rta n t cho ice. Let C elia & T e rri guide you through the p r o c e s s 1 . 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