More on hate crimes legislation - need your help finding exact text/senate version!

[Zerbie]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to locate the full text of the current senate version of the Matthew Shepherd act (SB1105). I have read the House version and need to know if there are any changes at all in the Senate version.

Here's why:

Having mailed letters to my senators in support of it 10 days ago or so, I thought now would be a good time to follow up with a phone call.

I phoned the DC office of one of my senators: the one I took for a "lost cause," so I could get that one over with first.

I expressed my reasons for supporting the bill to the staffer who answered the phone.

He responded: "Well, it's more comprehensive than that," and went on to state that the bill expressly prohibits Christians from expressing disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle and allowing them to be brought up on charges for saying so. He then asked me: "Do you support that as well?"

I replied that I had never read anything in the bill that limits free speech in any way whatsoever. He told me it's in there. I asked him where exactly in the legislation I could find it, whereupon he told me he did not have time to go over it with me.

I have been searching for the full language and so far have not come up with it.

What should I do now?

[antonyh]

I have been searching for the full language and so far have not come up with it.


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1105

[antonyh]

I phoned the DC office of one of my senators: the one I took for a "lost cause," so I could get that one over with first.

I expressed my reasons for supporting the bill to the staffer who answered the phone.

He responded: "Well, it's more comprehensive than that," and went on to state that the bill expressly prohibits Christians from expressing disagreement with the homosexual lifestyle and allowing them to be brought up on charges for saying so. He then asked me: "Do you support that as well?"

I replied that I had never read anything in the bill that limits free speech in any way whatsoever. He told me it's in there. I asked him where exactly in the legislation I could find it, whereupon he told me he did not have time to go over it with me.


I don't see anything in there limiting free speech. The response you got sounds like the classic religious right response to the bill. It is exactly what the religious right are saying. Maybe I'm missing something?

[suzer1013]

I got an e-mail from the HRC saying something to the effect that the "Christian" right has circulated a phony bill so that senators won't vote for it. I have no details, but that's that gist of it. I wonder if that's what is going on?

Susan

Here's what the HRC e-mail said. I have no idea if it's relevant to what your senator's office said.

Pop quiz: Before last week's House hate crimes vote, which of the following absurd tactics did anti-gay groups use to try to stop the vote?


a. Manufacture a blatantly fake House transcript.
b. Promote the work of a known racist filmmaker (whose other titles include "Keep America White").
c. Claim this law would make it a crime to "read the Bible a certain way" or have anti-gay thoughts.
d. Callously invoke the Virginia Tech massacre.
e. All of the above.

If you answered 'E', you've been doing your homework. Extremist groups have made stopping the Matthew Shepard Act a centerpiece of their agenda. Despite the desperation of their lies as the legislation moves into the Senate, their base is fired up: right now, right wing opponents are out-messaging GLBT supporters 10 to 1. We need to flip that ratio.

[BrentRichards]

Fortunately, I've already heard back from one of my Senators (Arlen Specter, R-PA) who is unequivocally in support of the legislation. My other Senator (Bob Casey, D-PA) hasn't responded yet, but I'm fairly confident he's supporting it. He's the one who sent Santorum packing last election (with my help, I'm happy to say.)

[suzer1013]

Hmmm. I just read the full text of the bill.

Zerbie -- your senator's office is lying to you! There is NOTHING in the bill that would support what he said to you. And if he's saying that to other constituents, and they believe him, that is completely unethical.

How low will our oppressors stoop to get what they want? I'm not sure how much lower they can go.

Susan

[antonyh]

I got an e-mail from the HRC saying something to the effect that the "Christian" right has circulated a phony bill so that senators won't vote for it. I have no details, but that's that gist of it. I wonder if that's what is going on?

Susan

Here's what the HRC e-mail said. I have no idea if it's relevant to what your senator's office said.

Pop quiz: Before last week's House hate crimes vote, which of the following absurd tactics did anti-gay groups use to try to stop the vote?


a. Manufacture a blatantly fake House transcript.
b. Promote the work of a known racist filmmaker (whose other titles include "Keep America White").
c. Claim this law would make it a crime to "read the Bible a certain way" or have anti-gay thoughts.
d. Callously invoke the Virginia Tech massacre.
e. All of the above.

If you answered 'E', you've been doing your homework. Extremist groups have made stopping the Matthew Shepard Act a centerpiece of their agenda. Despite the desperation of their lies as the legislation moves into the Senate, their base is fired up: right now, right wing opponents are out-messaging GLBT supporters 10 to 1. We need to flip that ratio.

Here is the HRC Press Release and links to the fake transcripts:
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Room&CONTENTID=36619&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

[antonyh]

http://traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/tvc_jesus_wanted_poster.pdf

The truth is really stranger than fiction. I don't recall Jesus saying a single thing about homosexuality :lol:

[Zerbie]

Hmmm. I just read the full text of the bill.

Zerbie -- your senator's office is lying to you!
Susan

Well that was my immediate suspicion at the time, which is why I asked him two or three times to tell me exactly where in the legislation he read something threatening to prosecute speech. The last time I asked where is when he ran out of time to talk on the phone.

If he was lying intentionally (as opposed to being honestly mislead by a "fake transcript" (?!?!?!??!!?! this is the first I've heard of it, I just got that same email a little while ago, too), then what's worse is that he deliberately laid a trap for me, a constituent caller, to fall into, to make me out as either supporting prosecution of free speech OR disavowing my support of the hate crimes bill. Saying it would prosecute Christians for speaking out against a homosexual lifestyle and then asking me, "Do you support THIS as well?" I certainly *felt* like he was laying a trap. Or else he was honestly gravely mistaken.

Thanks for the link to the exact text. :) I will look over it.

Is there anything else I should do now? Or forget about this? I just feel like, if my senator's staff is spreading misinformation, I should tell someone. Letter to the editor or something??? Or is it better to drop it? Um. . . what do folks think?

[Zerbie]

Thank you for linking. I read the text closely and I see NOTHING that could remotely be construed as limiting free speech in this version either. To the contrary, I see actual or perceived religion as a protected class, and I see that expressions and associations of the defendant cannot be used against a defendant in trial unless they are directly related.

Additional question: how reliable is govtrack??

I was trying to find the bill on senate.gov, which is where the staffer told me to look - and I could not find it there. I tried various key words for the search, and still didn't find it. Maybe I need to be persistent and keep trying different key words until it comes up.

[suzer1013]

Zerbie -- I found the senate.gov link through the Matthew Shepard website. It has a link to the senate.gov site and then I searched active legislation from there.

Here's the link to the bill:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.1105:

Gotta run...

Susan

[antonyh]

Is there anything else I should do now? Or forget about this? I just feel like, if my senator's staff is spreading misinformation, I should tell someone. Letter to the editor or something??? Or is it better to drop it? Um. . . what do folks think?

If you think the Senator may have a different opinion, I would contact him directly and let him know what his staff is saying.

[Zerbie]

If you think the Senator may have a different opinion, I would contact him directly and let him know what his staff is saying.

No point. It wouldn't surprise me if the senator were to say some version of the same thing.

I was just surprised the staffer wanted to argue with me on the phone rather than just say "I'll make a note of your opinion," or something like that, which is what usually happens to me when I make these calls.

Thanks again, folks. I'll check out those other links too.

[u-dog]

http://traditionalvalues.org/pdf_files/tvc_jesus_wanted_poster.pdf

The truth is really stranger than fiction. I don't recall Jesus saying a single thing about homosexuality :lol:


And that would be because... he DIDN"T!!

[antonyh]

Additional question: how reliable is govtrack??



They claim to track the goings on in government in an independent way.

[Zerbie]

Bumped for Progo.