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.”
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