Republican Congressman Thinks Hate Crime Is A Thought Crime

Representative Steve King, Candidate For Governor, Stalls Matthew Shepard Act

 

 

The US House Judiciary Committee began work on the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009” today, but several Republicans attempted to stall the bill by adding their own unnecessary or ridiculous amendments to the bill. The legislation, better known as just the Hate Crimes Bill, or the Matthew Shepard Act, has already been approved by a wide margin in the House.

Rep. Steve King of Iowa, who is against all hate crime legislation, wanted the bill’s name to be changed to the “Local Law Enforcement Thought Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.” King, who is a congressman from Iowa, responded to his state’s legalization of gay marriage by saying, “When these kinds of things happen, it sucks me into the Iowa policy in a way that I haven’t been sucked into it in a while.”

Via Advocate.com:

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), co-sponsor of the bill who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, responded, “This is not a bill about hate speech; this is not a bill about hate thought; this is a bill about hate crime.” She then noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has already reviewed hate crime legislation and “unanimously ruled that so long as it is crafted to focus on the conduct and the violence that it is entirely constitutional.”

HRC Backstory added this:

Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Congressman Steve King (R-IA) were particularly relentless in their opposition to the bill, with each offering many amendments.  Rep King, who admitted during the hearing that he is opposed to all hate crimes laws, even offered an amendment to add “immutable characteristics” such as eye color, hair color – or lack thereof – to the classes covered by the bill in order to make a mockery of the legislation’s purpose to protect actual targeted minorities from hate violence.

Markup on the bill will continue Thursday at 10:00 AM.