Hate Crimes
There have been times over the course of my legislative career where I have found myself questioning how I should vote on one issue or another. There have been votes where any vote seemed to be at best, the lesser of two evils.
My vote on the Hate Crimes Act of 2007 was not one of those. The morality of the vote was very clear.
The Hate Crimes Act dealt with acts of violence carried out against our fellow human beings on the basis of race, religion, gender, and yes, sexual orientation. Throughout my legislative career, I have always stood firmly by the belief that we all have a fundamental right as human beings to lead our lives without the ugly specter of violence looming over our heads.
Several of my political opponents have spread a vicious and untrue rumor that there was something in the act that would ban a minister in the pulpit from saying that homosexuality is a sin. I would challenge anyone to read the legislation and find that passage. This willful misinterpretation was first advanced by evangelical allies of the Bush Administration. Some who have advanced that misconception since then are well meaning people that have been deceived. Others don't mean quite as well.
Section 8 of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007:
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution.
There are no restrictions on what a minister may say from the pulpit. Here in Tennessee, we've had Hate Crimes laws on the books for two years that protect homosexuals. In that time, no minister has ever been arrested for anything he's said in the pulpit.
And so I voted my conscience. And I voted in accordance with the Congressional Black Caucus, none of which voted against this bill. And we voted with the wishes of the late Coretta Scott King, who had made no secret of her wish that homosexuals be treated better in America than they have been.