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News Release
For Immediate Release: October 22, 2009
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

Senate Passage of Hate Crimes Bill Will Lead to the Arrest of Christians for Taking a Biblical Stand; Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Bob Casey, Jr. – ‘yes’ votes – no surprise here

(Harrisburg) – Silencing their critics is the real goal of homosexual activists and others who have pushed for expansion of the federal hate crimes law. This expansion creates a new category of victims which is based on the sexual activity in which one engages and is not based on immutable characteristics such as race and ethnicity which past hate crimes legislation has been based upon. As the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, notes Americans do not have to look at foreign lands to see the impact of hate crimes laws which include the words ‘sexual orientation and gender identity,’ one needs only look at Philadelphia on October 10, 2004.

“Harrisburg legislators pushing for passage of a state hate crimes law argued in 2002 that this had nothing to do with the words ministers or Sunday School teachers said, but everything to do with thugs and hooligans and blood on the streets. At that time the AFA of PA and others warned legislators of the impending arrests of Christians . . . less than two years after passage of PA’s hate crimes law eleven Christians were arrested in Philadelphia and charged with a hate crime for reading Scripture and singing choruses at a homosexual event,” Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA noted.

The homosexual lobby has only one institution standing in their way before obtaining full acceptance in society and that’s the church. Even as we see some denominations fall to the lies that homosexuals are born that way and that Scripture does not condemn their sexual practices, others still proclaim the truth of Scripture. Those individuals and organizations are the targets homosexual activists are hoping to silence through the passage of this hate crimes law. Homosexual activists are determined to take away the First Amendment rights of Christians as the organizer of Philadelphia’s Outfest acknowledged earlier this month.

“Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland has assured us that passage of this bill ‘targets acts, not speech.’ Sorry, we here in Pennsylvania heard those very same lines in 2002 and we know what happened. Increasingly we hear homosexual activists saying that hate speech leads to hate crimes. Their goal is to silence those who do not agree with their lifestyle choices or see them in jail. How long before we see a Christian charged with a federal hate crime for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a homosexual? How long before we see a parent charged with a federal hate crime for vocally opposing the homosexual indoctrination of their children in the public schools?” questioned Gramley.

Last month, equating ‘hate speech’ with ‘hate crimes’ went to a whole new level. On the September 15^th’s ABCNews.com’s “Top Line”, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA 9^th), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in response to the 912 March, “It’s hard to say what’s in the hearts and minds of individuals who promote these kinds of posters that we saw over the weekend. You know, hate speech can turn into hate crimes.

Gramley concluded, “In Pennsylvania it took less than two years from the passage of the state hate crime law until eleven Christians were arrested. In America, the clock is ticking.”

Astonishingly, Democrats were holding our service members hostage to get special protections extended to less than 3% of the population. It is a disservice to our military to include the 17 page Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of the must-pass Defense Authorization Act. The lie continues to be perpetuated that homosexual student Matthew Shepherd was targeted because of his sexual orientation. A November 2004 ABC 20/20 interview of the killers, police reports and testimony refute that notion, but the media chooses to ignore the facts. Wyoming, where Shepherd was killed, did not and still does not have a hate crimes law, yet his two murderers are serving two consecutive life sentences. Justice was served without a federal hate crimes law in place.

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