New Bill

[Ker_Bear]

Iam quite confused as to why some members of the state Legislature feel compelled to oppose the bill extending the current hate-crimes statute to include sexual orientation.

Consider what would happen to the criminals in these situations under Alabama's current law. First, a white supremacist assaults a homeless black man with a baseball bat in downtown Birmingham. Second, a neo-Nazi attacks a Jewish man with a crowbar as he is leaving a temple on the Southside. Third, a neo-Nazi attacks a gay man with a 2-by-4 as he leaves a local nightclub. Under current Alabama law, the criminals who attacked the black man and the Jewish man would receive harsher treatment than the criminal who attacked the gay man.

Consider one additional situation where two men are seen giving each other a hug as they leave a trendy Southside restaurant. A criminal follows one of the men and assaults him because he believes the man is gay. The bill, if passed, would punish this criminal, too, even though the men he thought were gay were actually two brothers saying goodbye after a nice meal.


Why should some criminals get off easier than others? I believe they shouldn't, and that's why the bill should be passed into law. This bill proposes no special right for anyone. This bill simply makes all perpetrators of hate crimes pay the same price - a high price for their evil deeds. When hate corrupts the mind so completely the body is then led to commit violence, our society must punish both the hate that corrupts and the body that injures.







I read this on Birmingham's websight...now, the bill sounds pretty good am I right?But the fact is, even if they pass the bill, it's not gonna make people who commit hate crimes, or any crimes for that matter,stop dead in their tracks. It enevitable...shit like that is never going to stop, no matter how stricter the laws become or how many bills are passed.But I guess it gives people comfort in knowing the ones who are caught will serve "hard time" instead of just half a sentence and get out on good behavior...