Letters: Hate Crimes on the Rise and we Deserve Protection
The Michigan Anti-Bias Crime Statute, pending before the State Senate, addresses hate-motivated crime, which is very different from employment discrimination addressed by Hamtramck’s Human Rights ordinance.
Neither state nor federal law provides local law enforcement with the tools they need to prosecute hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other categories. According to the FBI, a victim’s sexual orientation is the third most-likely characteristic criminals single out when committing hate crimes, after race and religion.
In 2007, there were over 1,250 hate crimes committed nationwide solely based on a person’s sexual orientation. In Michigan alone that year, there were over 200 hate-motivated incidents based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Hamtramck is no stranger to hate-motivated crime – just several months ago, an Indian man walking alone on Conant was physically assaulted and robbed by three men, solely based on his perceived religion. The assailants believed he was Muslim, so he was attacked.
As the recent shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum demonstrates, hate-motivated crime is on the rise nationally. While people like Gary Glenn of the American Family Association seek to minimize hate crimes, or worse, demean the victims of hate-motivated crime, the only responsible thing to do is for the State Senate to pass the Michigan Anti-Bias Crime Statute to give law enforcement the tools they need to stop these destructive crimes.
Gregory Manore
Hamtramck Human Relations Commission
Can Mr. Minore cite any recent such crimes in Hamtramck (or elsewhere) that were not prosecuted by law enforcement officials under existing laws?
Presumably, if they were identified and arrested, the three men who attacked the Indian man on Conant are now facing severe criminal charges. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of their motivation or the victim’s membership in any particular demographic category.
The real purpose of legislation establishing a so-called “hate crime” any time the victim of an already illegal and prosecutable act is someone who engages in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing is to chill the First Amendment free speech rights of those who dare publicly disagree with homosexual activists’ political agenda.
The chief of staff of Michigan’s largest homosexual lobby explained their intentions in the Saginaw News, April 27, 2005:
“Jeffrey Montgomery is calling out the political extremists and religious fundamentalists whose rhetoric, he says, has fueled a steady rise in hate crimes against gays and lesbians. ‘We’ve seen an increase in vitriolic, vociferous, vehement, demonizing RHETORIC against gays and lesbians,’ said Montgomery, (the openly homosexual) executive director of the Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based (homosexual) advocacy group. ‘The VOCAL anti-gay activists should be held accountable as ACCESSORIES to these crimes because, many times, it is their RHETORIC that led the perpetrators to believe that their crimes are OK.’ …If a criminal borrows a gun and then uses it to kill someone, the law considers the gun owner an accessory to the crime. So, too, are the people who own the WORDS that incite violence, Montgomery said.”
An example: in 2007, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a news release regarding the death of a senior citizen in Detroit who the county medical examiner’s office ruled had died from a blow to the head after a fall caused by paralysis of the neck due to advanced arthritis. The release falsely characterized his death as a “hate crime” and suggested that Cardinal Maida and I were responsible and, presumably, per Montgomery’s legal reasoning above, should be prosecuted as accessories. It stated:
“For years, Michigan has been subjected to the homophobic rants of Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan… Just two years ago, the state endured an ugly campaign, led by Cardinal Adam Maida, to ‘protect marriage’ by writing anti-gay discrimination into its constitution. …It is appalling hypocrisy for these forces to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos.” http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/prMF_022307
An already existing state law could be used by homosexual activists and their judicial allies to justify prosecuting those who condemn violence (as my organization does) but who publicly disagree with so-called homosexual “marriage” and the rest of activists’ political agenda.
Michigan Code Section 767.39 states: “Every person concerned in the commission of an offense, whether he directly commits the act constituting the offense or procures, COUNSELS, AIDS, OR ABETS in its commission may hereafter be prosecuted, indicted, tried and on conviction shall be punished as if he had directly committed such offense.” (The word “abet” means “to encourage.”)
If HB 4836 becomes law, we have no doubt that there are openly homosexual or sympathetic judges in Michigan who will agree with the Triangle Foundation’s propaganda strategy of accusing anyone who speaks out against their political agenda of being guilty of ‘encouraging’ criminal activity any time a crime is committed or falsely alleged to have been committed against an individual involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing.
Two judges appointed by Gov. Granholm, for example, are past members of the Triangle Foundation’s board of trustees and advisors.
Since all violent assaults are already illegal, and since Mr. Minore likely can’t provide any example of such assaults in which the assailants were not adequately prosecuted, we urge readers to contact their state senator and urge that the so-called “hate crime” bill be defeated.
Someone who attacks a small child, a senior citizen, or a pregnant mom shouldn’t receive a less severe prison sentence than someone who attacks a grown man, just because the grown man belongs to the specially-protected category of individuals who engage in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing.
Hamtramck voters last year rejected the notion of special legal “rights” and protections based on such behavior.
I’m a gay citizen of hamtramck and I deeply resent Mr. Glen and the AFA. Their campaign is to keep me as a second class citizen and deny me equal rights. The consistent underlying message of the AFA is that gay people are not as good as “we heterosexuals” and how dare they presume to think they are. They want to keep homosexuality hidden and closeted. I will continue to fight the AFA and the bigotry and hate they stand for.