The chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee has eliminated hate-crimes
provisions benefiting gays and lesbians from a child
safety bill. The language had been added to the
Children's Safety and Violent Crimes Reduction Act of
2005 on a strong bipartisan vote last fall, but
Republican representative James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin
used a procedural move to get rid of it.
The hate-crimes language would have allowed
federal authorities to help investigate and prosecute
attacks on gays and lesbians. Conservative groups
lobbied hard against the amendment, but it passed last
September on a vote of 233-199.
In reaction to Sensenbrenner's move, Human
Rights Campaign president Joe Solomonese said in a
statement, "The United States Congress is not a card
game. You can't just keep reshuffling the deck if you don't
like the first hand the majority deals you."
Two senators have discussed introducing
hate-crimes language to the Senate's version of the
child safety resolution. Then a House-Senate committee
would decide whether to include it in the final language
before the bill becomes law. (Sirius OutQ News)
