AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA

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HATE CRIMES IN PA

Click here to read the story of eleven Christians who were arrested in Philadelphia and charged with a hate crime in October 2004. Their crime . . . reading Scripture and singing choruses at a 'gay' pride event. They face 45 years in prison and $90,000 in fines!!

What is a hate crimes law? It is a law which provides a stiffer punishment for a crime committed against certain groups of people. Historically these groups have been classified under race, color, religion or national origin. Hate crimes laws, in essence, attempt to read the mind of the perpetrator. If it is determined that they are committing the crime because they hate the victim, they have committed a 'hate crime.' There are already laws on the books against crimes. Hate crimes laws turn our policing agencies and juries into 'thought police.' All hate crimes laws are unfair!

Homosexual activists have pulled the victim card and pushed for hate crimes legislation with the addition of 'actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.' They have been successful in many states around the nation. One example of how such a hate crimes law works: the attacker of an adult male homosexual receives a stiffer punishment than one who rapes your seven year-old daughter or 87 year-old grandmother!

On June 21, 2001 an agricultural vandalism bill (H.B. 1493) was essentially hijacked in the State Senate and gutted of all language dealing with eggs, milk, crops, fruit trees, etc. and "actual or perceived ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity" were added. The vote to pass the will was 32 to 15. Click here to see how your State Senator voted.

On November 26, 2002, even amid warnings of potential First Amendment rights violations, the House by a vote of 118 to 79 passed H.B. 1493. Click here to see how your State House member voted.

In addition to possible First Amendment rights violations, the AFA of PA came up with other reasons. Click here to read them.

Notable quotes from House members in support of the bill during the debate on the floor of the House. These quotes were taken from the Legislative Journal of November 26, 2002:

Representative Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia County): "It seems to me that imaginations are running rather freely in this debate by opponents of this bill. This bill is not -- is not -- about calling names. This bill is about breaking bones and causing serious injury or death. This bill is not about what ministers or Sunday School teachers say. This bill is about what thugs, hooligans, and murderers do. This bill is not about jokes that are offensive or tasteless. This bill is about blood in the streets." (page 2269)

Representative Steven Nickol (R-York County): "So I think it pretty well speaks to the fact that what we are doing here is not outlawing fighting words or outlawing ethnic slurs or doing anything of that nature. What we are dealing with here are actual crimes committed against someone, not words." (page 2270)

Representative Curtis Thomas (D-Philadelphia County): "And as previous speakers have mentioned, we are not talking about speech; we are talking about conduct, conduct that results in violence, violence to another human being, because of what we believe to be their sexual orientation." (p. 2271)

Governor Schweiker signed H.B. 2003 into law on December 3, 2002 -- one of the last acts of a Republican Governor. Upon his signing it became Act 143.

June 2003 -- Diane Gramley (AFA of PA) and Fran Bevan (PA Eagle Forum) file a lawsuit (as individuals and not representatives of their respective organizations) to get the hate crimes law rescinded. July 2005 -- the lawsuit is dismissed because we don't have standing!!