US RELEASE 10/28/09: Mr. President, here’s how ‘hate crime’ laws trample religious freedom
SAVEAMERICA.COM NEWS RELEASE
October 28, 2009 -- For Immediate Release
Mr. President, here’s how ‘hate crime’ laws trample religious freedom
California is using 'LGBT hate crime' definitions to trample people's cherished moral values
Sacramento – SaveAmerica.com, the national arm of SaveCalifornia.com, a leading West Coast pro-family, pro-child organization, is warning Americans that the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual “hate crimes” law signed today by President Obama will, unrestrained, lead to “LGBT rights” trampling religious freedom and everyone else’s rights.
California’s experience with “hate crime” laws clearly demonstrates how moral conscience is trampled by placing definitions of anything-goes “sexual orientation” and “gender” into the law. “In 1998, California first placed homosexuality into the state’s hate-crime law,” said Randy Thomasson, a legislative analyst and president of SaveAmerica.com. "Ten years later, largely hidden from the general public, these hate-crime definitions are being used to sexually indoctrinate schoolchildren, trample parental rights, and infringe upon the religious rights and moral standards of business owners and property owners."
“By awarding special preference to alternative lifestyles in hate-crimes laws, today in California, the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda has more legal power than religious citizens, parents, business owners and property owners,” said Thomasson. “Children, parents, contractors, business owners, and physicians have all been hurt by the ‘LGBT hate crimes’ law. Given California’s experience, it is reasonable to expect that, unless restrained by voters, Congress will expand the federal ‘LGBT hate crimes’ definitions throughout the U.S. Code, trampling religious freedom, parental rights, moral standards, and ownership rights in the process.”
"Connect the dots," said Thomasson, "and you'll see how 'LGBT hate crimes' definitions are the beginning of the intolerant homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda trampling other people's basic rights throughout the law. It's imperative to understand that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists are demanding their own way at the expense of Americans' basic rights to exercise their religious and moral beliefs."
DOCUMENTATION: From the Penal Code to the Education Code, Civil Code and Government Code
California in 1998 enacted a law that makes the offense of vandalism a “hate crime” because of a person's race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation.
California’s “hate crimes” law set forth in the Penal Code, Section 422:55 and 56, became the foundation for the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual “rights” agenda in the rest of state law.
Penal Code Section 422:55
For purposes of this title, and for purposes of all other state law unless an explicit provision of law or the context clearly requires a different meaning, the following shall apply:
(a) "Hate crime" means a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim:
(1) Disability.
(2) Gender.
(3) Nationality.
(4) Race or ethnicity.
(5) Religion.
(6) Sexual orientation.
(7) Association with a person or group with one or more of these
actual or perceived characteristics.
(b) "Hate crime" includes, but is not limited to, a violation of Section 422.6.
California Penal Code, Section 422:56
(h) "Sexual orientation" means heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.
(c) "Gender" means sex, and includes a person's gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person's assigned sex at birth.
California laws advancing the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda, empowering “LGBT rights” to trump everyone else’s rights, is based on Penal Code 422.55 and 56:
Based on Penal Code, Section 422.56, the California Government Code allows fines up to $150,000 against business owners and property owners who are morally opposed to homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality.
• Government Code, Section 12926
(p) "Sex" includes, but is not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. "Sex" also includes, but is not limited to, a person's gender, as defined in Section 422.56 of the Penal Code.
(q) "Sexual orientation" means heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.
Based on the Government Code, which is based on Penal Code, Section 422.56, the California Civil Code requires businesses open to the public to elevate homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality above their own religious values or moral standards.
• Civil Code, Section 51
(4) "Sex" has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (p) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.
(6) "Sexual orientation" has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (q) of Section 12926 of the Government Code.
Based on Penal Code, Section 422.56, the California Education Code allows teachers and other school employees to cross-dress and be openly homosexual and bisexual in front of children, and indirectly requires positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality to schoolchildren in school “instruction” and campus “activities.”
• Education Code, Section 200
It is the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crimes set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state. The purpose of this chapter is to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor.
• Education Code, Section 220
No person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the
definition of hate crimes set forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aid.
• Education Code, Section 51500
No teacher shall give instruction nor shall a school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of a characteristic listed in Section 220.
• Education Code, Section 66251
It is the policy of the State of California to afford all persons, regardless of their sex, ethnic
group identification, race, national origin, religion, mental or physical disability, or regardless of any basis that is contained in the prohibition of hate crimes set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 422.6 of the Penal Code, equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary institutions of the state. The purpose of this chapter is to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor.
• Education Code, Section 66270
No person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnic group identification, race, national origin, religion, color, or mental or physical disability, or any basis that is contained in the prohibition of hate crimes set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 422.6 of the Penal Code in any program or activity conducted by any postsecondary educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state student financial aid.
-- end --
SaveAmerica.com is the national arm of SaveCalifornia.com, a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families. We stand for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.