The bill passed in House with 93% of Democrat support and opposed by 87% of Republicans.  On May 7th, the bill was received by the Senate and was read twice and referred to the committee on the Judiciary.  It is set to be voted on in the Senate soon.

The bill defines “hate crime” as a violent act causing death or bodily injury because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability of the victim.

The bill authorizes state, local, and Indian law enforcement agency to receive grants to help them investigate and prosecute hate crimes.

The bill amends the federal criminal code to impose a fine and/or prison term of up to ten years on any person who willfully cause BODILY INJURY to any person on the basis of aforementioned protected class.

The bill emphasizes that “Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit expressive conduct or activities protected by the 1st Amendment.”  (Freedom of speech will still be protected)

What does that mean for the deaf?  This means if someone has bias towards a deaf person and injured a deaf person based on his/her deafness, this hate crime will allow the law enforcement and the prosecutor to apply this law to the person that committed the crime to the deaf person.  This law does not apply if a hearing person made fun of a deaf person or made derogatory comments to a deaf person.

Supporters of this bill says that the bill only applies to “bodily injury” and that the prosecutor will not be allowed to question criminal’s affiliation/members of a certain hate group or bring up the criminal’s past hate speech.

ACLU feels that this bill will go a long way to ensure that hate crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted.  In the past, ACLU has opposed other hate crime bills because it threatened our constitutionally protected speech.  But, the bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers shows that it is possible to protect hate crime victims, while at the same time, protect free speech and association rights.

Some Christians views this bill as the “most dangerous bill” in America.  Some Christians feel that the bill will use the power and authority to prevent free speech, especially religion speech such as sermons that preaches the bible’s view on homosexuality.

Others feels that the bill could lead to prosecution for thoughts and restriction on free speech and religion liberty.  While the bill is clear that it only prosecute “acts of violence” and does not prosecute expressions or opinion, some feel that it opens the door to the thoughts of criminals.

I’ve been reading a lot of opinions by many Americans on several forums on this bill.  One person mentioned that God hates all these people.  I know that isn’t true.  The Bible is very clear on this, God hates the sin, but not the person.  While being a women isn’t sin, and being deaf is not sin either.  I knew that person was talking about the gays and the transgenders.  Jesus loves everyone, regardless.  And that is why His message to mankind was to love everyone including your enemies. 

Whether you feel strongly about this bill or not, you can send a letter to your congressmen.  The Senate will be voting on this soon.