“Hating the Hate Crimes Bill”
Read an Oct. 13, 2009, blog post at “On Faith” by David Waters about the religiously based opposition to the hate-crimes bill.
Category: Gender & sexuality
UUA: Standing on the Side of Love
In June 2009, the Unitarian Universalist Association launched a campaign against hate crimes called “Standing on the Side of Love.” The campaign was a response to a July 27, 2008, attack on the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church that killed two people and wounded seven. The gunman told authorities he was angered by the church’s acceptance of homosexuality […]
“H.R. 1913 (111th): Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009”
The Library of Congress’ online service has information on the House bill, known as H.R. 1913. The Senate bill is S. 909 and can be found here. Govtrack.us followed the path of the bill.
“Surveillance video captures brutal beating of gay man, Jack Price, in Queens; Both suspects arrested”
A brutal Oct. 8, 2009, beating in New York City by two attackers left an openly gay man in a coma. The beating was classified as a hate crime; it was caught on a surveillance video and made headlines around the country.
“Hate Crimes Accounting: Annual Report Released”
In addition to the new hate-crimes law, the FBI released its annual report on Hate Crime Statistics. The report detailed hate crimes from 2011. More than 6,222 hate crimes were reported in 2011.
Christopher R. Smit
Christopher R. Smit teaches mass media, including television, gender and sexuality, and popular music at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. Smit’s essays on disability, media, popular music and culture have appeared in Disability Studies Quarterly, Studies in Popular Culture and elsewhere. His current book project concerns theology, disability and the Christian faith. He is also a singer/songwriter.
U.S. hate crimes
ReligiousTolerance.org has a Web page of hate-crime definitions and existing laws and another on hate-crime laws and sexual orientation. It also has a page dedicated to the question of whether hate-crimes legislation limits free speech.
State and Local Response to Hate Crimes
Partners Against Hate maintains a state-by-state database of hate-crime statistics and hate-crime laws.
Active U.S. Hate Groups
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a state-by-state map of identified hate groups. The center says that in 2012 there were 1,007 hate groups operating throughout the United States, an increase of more than 50 percent since 2000.