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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Senator Argues For Hate Crime Legislation
Washington Post pgA17 19Jun00 N2
By Gordon H. Smith
WASHINGTON, DC -- US Senator Gordon H. Smith, an LDS Church member
from Oregon, wrote in an editorial in the Washington Post today that
a Federal hate crimes law is needed because hate crimes are different
from other crimes. Smith says that hate crimes "while perpetrated
upon an individual, the violence is directed at a community."
Smith is a cosponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2000, which
would authorize federal law enforcement officers to assist state and
local police in pursuing and prosecuting hate crimes, such as the
crimes committed against James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard which got
national attention.
Smith acknowledges in his editorial that the legislation is
controversial. "Some believe that all crime is hateful, and that by
providing federal resources for hate crimes we would be telling the
victims of crimes committed for other motives that they are not as
important."
The most controversial element of the legislation, according to
Smith, is the inclusion of a category for sexual orientation. Smith
says that some Senators will oppose the legislation because "they
feel that to legislate protections for gays and lesbians is to
legitimize homosexuality." While he once agreed, Smith says he no
longer thinks so. "One needn't agree with all the goals of the gay
community to help it achieve fair treatment within our society. It is
possible, for example, to oppose gay marriage on religious and policy
grounds but to protect gays and lesbians against violence on the same
grounds."
Smith says that there are some times when one moral position is
simply more important than another, "I often have told those who
attempt to wield the sword of morality against others that if they
want to talk about sin, go with me to church, but if they want to
talk about policy, go with me to the Senate. That is the separation
of church and state."
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