---

Speech Of
Hon. Todd Tiahrt
Of Kansas
In The House Of Representatives
Thursday, May 3, 2007

Mr. Tiahrt: Mr. Speaker, today I was proud to stand up for the equal protection of all Americans by opposing H.R. 1592, the so called "Hate Crimes Bill." I abhor bigotry and discrimination, and I look forward to an America where no one is physically harmed for any reason. However, creating a special protected class within this country is poor public policy and contrary to the founding principle that all Americans are equal in front of the law.

First, this bill is unnecessary. State and local laws already provide criminal penalties for the violence addressed by the new Federal crimes defined in H.R. 1592. Many of the current state and local laws carry stricter penalties than the proposed language in H.R. 1592. State and local law enforcement agencies and courts already have the capability to enforce those penalties and are doing so effectively. The proof is that the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that bias-motivated crimes are decreasing. In fact, less than 17% of all law enforcement agencies reported a single hate crime in 2005. No evidence exists that states and localities are failing to prosecute hate crimes under existing statutes. There is simply no need for the Federal government to impinge on the manner in which state and local agencies are attacking these concerns.

Second, there are Constitution questions concerning this bill. The 14th Amendment affords equal protection under the law to all citizens. H.R. 1592 defies this principle by ranking victims according to nebulous categories like "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" that are based on behavior and are not easily definable. All violent crimes are unacceptable, regardless of the victim, and should be punished firmly.

It is ironic that this bill came to the floor on the National Day of Prayer. I am worried that this bill will unfairly target people of faith. Under this bill, Christians and clergy may be targets for prosecution if their traditional teachings on sexuality are considered an inducement to violence of people based on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" whether real or perceived. Typically, members would have the opportunity to offer amendments to fix omissions such as this. Unfortunately, the Democrat leadership railroaded this bill through the floor with absolutely no opportunity to offer amendments, denying us the opportunity to protect traditional American values.

Instead of passing laws which violate long-standing principles of good government, we must instead continue in our efforts to make sure that criminals understand their behavior will not be tolerated. Individuals caught committing a crime must understand that conviction will be certain, sentencing will be swift and punishment will be severe. Creating classes of victims, as this bill surely does, based on broad indefinable categories makes certain citizens more equal than others, substitutes a federal mandate for local expertise, and fails to protect traditional American values.