What Happens When Lawmakers Exempt Oklahoma From Matthew Shepard Act And There’s a Major Typo
Instead of passing a law that (they foolishly believed) would exempt them from LGBT protections under the federal Matthew Shepard Act, Oklahoma’s state senators approved a bill that blocks the state from having to comply with Title 18 U.S. Code Section 245. But the hate crimes portion of the law dealing with sexual orientation and gender identity is in Section 249. Section 245, in fact, deals with racial and religious protections — the very thing lawmakers were trying to “protect” by avoiding the Matthew Shepard Act.
Oklahoma State Senate Minority Leader Andrew Rice, a Democrat, says SB 1965 “in its current form doesn’t take away rights from gays and lesbians. It takes away rights for religion and race.” State Sen. Steve Russell, who created the bill, isn’t commenting.
There’s this thing called the “Supremacy Clause” in the U.S. Constitution that states anytime there is conflict between Federal and State law, the Federal law is always supreme. So any state trying to exempt themselves from Federal law (this includes states that are trying to legislate their way out of the health-reform) will fail when the first affected person files suit. These state laws are unconstitutional and the people writing them know that – but they won’t get over-turned until their is a Plaintiff.
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Bill passed 36-9, pretty sure there will be an ammended version……….What a vile reprehensive group of scumbags……..Am fairly certain the rest of the fence where Matt was crucified is still standing. I for one wouldn’t shed a single tear of one of those hatefilled legislator’s kids suffered the same fate as Matt……………..
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hahahh WIN