British politico Jack Straw’s mulling harsh sentences for inciting homo hatred:
People convicted of stirring up hatred against homosexuals face up to seven years in jail under a new law.
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, told MPs that existing prohibitions against race and religious incitement would be extended to cover ”homo-phobic” behavior.
His statement prompted fears among Christian organizations that they could be prosecuted for preaching that homosexuality was wrong.
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Mr Straw said he would amend the Criminal Justice Bill to make it unlawful to use threatening words or behaviour on the grounds of sexual orientation.“It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the last 10 years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective directed at people on the basis of their sexuality,” he added.
Will this proposed law actually curb anti-gay speech or will it only lead to further resentment? We fear the latter…
Bill Perdue
The question of hate speech and its direct relationship to violence is one that has to be resolved, here and in England.
Speaking about hate speech Kevin Jennings, GLSEN founder said “This study clearly illustrates the prevalence of bullying and harassment in America’s schools…â€. The US Department of Justice, in its report Hate Crimes on Campus (DOJ Publication NJC187249) says that “the use of such language creates an atmosphere that permits conduct to escalate from mere words to stronger words, to threats, and ultimately to violence.â€
Young gays and lesbians, because we have no means of protecting them, are the most frequent victims. Overall about 2,000 of us get beaten every year and 20 plus are lynched. Violence has been on the rise since the double whammy of DOMA and DADT from the Democrats and eight years of gay bashing by Republican attack dogs.
Political and religious bigotry and the violent incitements of rap and reggae hatemeisters like Eminem and Buju Banton are the direct cause of violence against us. At some point we’ll have to stop it, but we won’t be able to relying on backstabbing ‘friends’ like Pelosi and Frank.
Goaded by EU courts the hate speech bill was introduced by the Labour Party and has the unqualified support of the Liberal Democrats. The English Conservative Party has reservations about this bill as have christian totalitarians and islamic jihadists.
The differences between the English situation and ours are not that the GLBT movement there is more advanced and powerful than ours, quite the contrary. The difference is the existence of the Labour Party as a vehicle to create change. And that’s a huge difference. As long as we rely on and vote for conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans we’ll be DOA.
If laws like this pass bigots will just have to suck it up and restrain their instincts to voice bigoted remarks in public.
WWH
England is not big on freedom of speech.
Bill Perdue
Freedom of speech has nothing to do with stifling the hate speech of homobigots. Incarceration and intensive reeducation are just the tickte to save lives.