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Hypocrisy, Hate Crimes, and the Apparent Bigotry of John Boehner
Check out this CBS News article. House Republican Leader John Boehner opposes a bill that would expand hate crime legislation to include gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Currently, the legislation includes race, color, religion, and national origin. His rationale is that hate crimes legislation should only cover “immutable characteristics.” Apparently, sexual orientation is not immutable. And yet, the very idea of immutability is stupid. What is immutable? Is gender immutable? No, it’s more complicated than that, isn’t it? So, too, sexual orientation, which, while natural, isn’t always so black and white. And national origin? To a point, but many people these days don’t really have one single national origin. But religion certainly isn’t immutable, and yet Boehner supports the current legislation.
And so we must conclude that he’s a hypocrite, and worse: His objection to the bill likely stems from his objection to gays and lesbians generally, and certainly to gay rights. Opposition to hate crimes legislation generally at least shows consistency, and I can respect that. (In an ideal world, one without hate, I’d object to hate crimes legislation, too. We’re not there yet, though, not even close.) But picking and choosing which groups deserve to be protected and which ones don’t, as the pro-religion, anti-gay Boehner is doing, is simply despicable.
(Cross-posted from The Reaction.)
2 Responses to “Hypocrisy, Hate Crimes, and the Apparent Bigotry of John Boehner”
Mikey — you can have nitpicks about Boehner, as even though they are a legitimate opposition to the extremism and worse of the lib Dems, they remain dysfunctional. (I join the likely majority who believe homosexuality is innate and is made, not chosen, in the womb.) You have to realize that the so-called “hate crime” (thought crime) legislation is an example of lib Dem extremism run amok.
Rather than continue the kind of excesses by the lib Dems that have resulted in failure currently with health care “reform,” maybe the Dems should be more grown up and realistic, and perhaps start with something else (besides Medicare) that Obama has vowed to remedy, but is doing nothing, if not the opposite (as with Medicare and health care “reform”) — why don't the Demmies look first at ending the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy on homosexuality, for example, instead of being ambigious, grandiose, and once again wildly extremist (and repellent)?
Ummm…. how about we leave it up to the States and follow the Constitution?
You wanna change the law federally? pass an amendment.