NEWS -- Discriminatory "hate crime" bill passes Michigan House but loses support

Rep. Joel Sheltrown and Douyg Bennett deserve praise for their stand up character.

 

Quote from below:  All House Democrats voted for the bill except Rep. Doug Bennett, D-Muskegon, and Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch.  All House Republicans voted against it except Rep. Larry DeShazor, R-Portage and Rep. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights.  One member was absent.

 

----- Original Message -----

From: AFAM@chartermi.net

To: AFA-Michigan E-News

Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:32 PM

Subject: NEWS -- Discriminatory "hate crime" bill passes Michigan House butloses support

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   Wed., May 20, 2009 CONTACT:  Gary Glenn                       989-835-7978                        Homosexual activists seek criminal prosecution of pastors, others who publicly oppose homosexual political agenda   Discriminatory "hate crime" bill passes Michigan House with 16 fewer votes                                                                                                                                            Gary Glenn House Democrats reject amendment to protect victims of child sexual abuse from pedophiles   LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan House of Representatives Wednesday passed a so-called "hate crime" bill that would create special "protected class" status for individuals who engage in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing and special enhanced prison sentences for crimes committed against them.  House Bill 4836 passed on a largely party line vote of 66 to 43, receiving sixteen fewer votes than nearly identical legislation received in the House last November, when it passed 82 to 18.   "The more citizens and elected officials learn the truth about the threat homosexual activists'  discriminatory Trojan Horse 'hate crime' legislation poses to religious free speech rights, the more support it will continue to lose," said Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.  "It will die in the state Senate, and with a few exceptions, about the only politicians left supporting this so-called "hate crime" legislation are liberal Democrats whose campaigns were funded by homosexual billionaire Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo."   All House Democrats voted for the bill except Rep. Doug Bennett, D-Muskegon, and Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch.  All House Republicans voted against it except Rep. Larry DeShazor, R-Portage and Rep. Tory Rocca, R-Sterling Heights.  One member was absent.   House Democrats gavelled down two attempted amendments by Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills.  One would have amended the bill's definition of so-called "sexual orientation" to ensure that the bill could not be used to give special "protected class" status to pedophiles, imposing harsher prison sentences on parents or others who respond physically to protect children from sexual assault.   "It is certainly disturbing that House Democrats opposed amending this discriminatory and dangerous bill to provide greater protection for victims of child sexual abuse," Glenn said.   McMillin's other amendment would have removed the bill's references to homosexual behavior and cross-dressing and left standing only its prohibition against cross-burnings and hanging of nooses intended as displays of racial intrimidation.  McMillin said that since the bill's creation of special status based on homosexual behavior will likely prevent its passage in the Senate, removing them from the bill is likely the only way the ban on cross-burnings and noose-hanging can actually be enacted into law.   AFA in an e-mail alert to its supporters last week said the legislation violates "the principle of equal justice under law...and would mean that a criminal who attacks a senior citizen, pregnant mom, or small child would be punished less severely -- with a shorter prison sentence -- than someone who attacks a grown man, if that grown man is involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing.  The notion that some victims are worthy of greater protection than others, especially if it's based on their choice of sexual behavior, is simply outrageous." (See full copy of AFA Action Alert below) Glenn also said HB 4836 poses a serious threat to religious free speech rights, citing the use of such "hate crime" laws in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. to prosecute Christians merely for speaking out against homosexual activists' political agenda. "In Michigan, homosexual activists openly admit they want to see pastors and others who speak out against the homosexual agenda criminally prosecuted as 'accessories' any time a violent crime is committed against an individual who's involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing," the AFA e-mail alert said. Glenn cited a Saginaw News report of its interview with prominent homosexual activist Jeffrey Montgomery, former executive director of the Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based homosexual lobby: "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 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."  ("Triangle exec decries violence" by Lania Coleman, p. 4A, The Saginaw News, April 27, 2005) He also cited a report by State News, the Michigan State University student newspaper, which quoted another prominent homosexual activist -- former Triangle Foundation director of policy Sean Kosofsky -- as saying: "We personally believe that the AFA may support the murder of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people."  http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=6737 Glenn also cited a news release issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2007 which accused him and Cardinal Maida of Detroit -- merely by having publicly disagreed with homosexual activists' political agenda on marriage and other issues -- of being responsible for inciting the alleged beating death of a homosexual senior citizen in Detroit.  http://thetaskforce.org/press/releases/prMF_022307 "It is appalling hypocrisy for (Glenn and Maida) 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," the NGLTF statement said.   Glenn said homosexual activists and their political allies -- including Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who condemned the purported "hate crime" on the U.S. Senate floor -- were later embarrassed when Detroit police announced they had found no evidence of any assault and the Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled Anthos suffered a blow to the head after falling due to arthritic paralysis of his neck. (See Associated Press, March 28, 2007: http://www.randythomas.org/blog/2007/03/hate-crime-or-arthritis.html) The statements by Montgomery, Kosofsky, and NGLTF "make clear that homosexual activists hope to sell society and the courts on their repressive view that anyone who dares publicly disagree with their political agenda should face the threat of being criminally prosecuted, and they're not beyond fabricating false 'hate crime' claims to do it," Glenn said. According to the AFA e-mail alert, a provision of already existing state law could be used by homosexual activists and their allies in the judiciary to justify such prosecutions. 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." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abet   "If HB 4836 becomes law," Glenn said, "we have no doubt that there are openly homosexual or sympathetic judges in Michigan who 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 actually committed or falsely alleged to have been committed against an individual involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing."   Glenn cited as examples of judges likely to share the Triangle Foundation's legal strategy:   * Openly homosexual 36th District Judge Rudy Serra, Wayne County, a former member of the Triangle Foundation's board of trustees, and 57th District Judge William Baillargeon, Allegan County, a former member of the Triangle Foundation board of advisors.   - Serra: http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=28&thread=223286 - Baillargeon: http://web.archive.org/web/20021029115642/www.tri.org/advisors.html   * Triangle Pride PAC, the Triangle Foundations' affiliated political action committee, also endorsed the following sitting judges in the 2008 election: 15th District Judge Chris Easthope, Washtenaw County; 46th District Judge William Richards, Oakland County; 91st District Judge Elizabeth Church, Chippewa County; Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, Oakland County Circuit Judge Mary Ellen Brennan, Wayne County Circuit Judges Connie Kelley and Lynne Pierce, and Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper. http://www.pride-pac.org/guide/showall.php   * Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway "supports (homosexual and cross-dressing) rights and issues and was strongly endorsed by" Between the Lines, a homosexual activist newsmagazine in Detroit.  Circuit Court Judges Christopher Yates and Donald Shelton were also endorsed by Between the Lines in 2008, as were District Court Judges Bill Richards and Elizabeth Church. http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=32861   * Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Dragunchuk -- whose 2005 ruling in support of homosexual activists' lawsuit against the state Marriage Protection Amendment was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals -- was endorsed by both Triangle Pride PAC and another homosexual activist group, the Lansing Association for Human Rights.   # # #

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Donald E. Wildmon Founder and Chairman

 

Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire e-mail list of family and friends. Michigan House of Representatives set to vote on so-called "hate crimes" bill URGENT! Urge your state representative today to vote NO on House Bill 4836 ("hate crimes" bill) May 11, 2009 Dear AFA-Michigan supporter, AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn has alerted us that the Michigan House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing and vote this Wednesday morning (May 13th) on House Bill 4836, a bill to enact a homosexual "hate crimes" bill in Michigan. A vote by the full state House of Representatives is expected to occur quickly thereafter, perhaps even later the same day. Violating the principle of equal justice under law, this so-called "hate crime" legislation would mean that a criminal who attacks a senior citizen, pregnant mom, or small child would be punished less severely -- with a shorter prison sentence -- than someone who attacks a grown man, if that grown man is involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing. The notion that some victims are worthy of greater protection than others, especially if it's based on their choice of sexual behavior, is simply outrageous. "Hate crime" legislation has also proven in other countries and states to be a severe threat to religious free speech rights. In Sweden, a pastor was jailed for preaching a sermon in which he called homosexual behavior a sin. In Canada, a Catholic bishop was brought up on charges for writing in his church newsletter that marriage should remain between a man and a woman. In Philadelphia, eleven Christians were arrested for reading Bible verses out loud on a public street during a "gay pride" festival. In Michigan, homosexual activists openly admit they want to see pastors and others who speak out against the homosexual agenda criminally prosecuted as "accessories" any time a violent crime is committed against an individual who's involved in homosexual behavior or cross-dressing. As the Saginaw News reported: "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." Or as the State News in East Lansing reported: "'We personally believe that the AFA may support the murder of gay, lesbian and bisexual people,' (openly homosexual Triangle Foundation Director of Policy Sean Kosofsky) said." One clear example: the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2007 accused Cardinal Maida of Detroit and AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn by name of being responsible for inciting the alleged beating death of a homosexual senior citizen in Detroit. According to NGLTF, Maida and Glenn were responsible for this purported "hate crime" merely because they were both prominent public supporters of the Marriage Protection Amendment approved by Michigan voters. (Notably, homosexual activists' "hate crime" propaganda evaporated as soon as Detroit police announced they had found no evidence of any assault, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled the man had died after falling and hitting his head due to arthritic paralysis of his neck.) If those statements don't make clear the threat to religious free speech, please take a few moments to watch this short video that explains what can happen if the Michigan Legislature passes HB 4836, the so-called "hate crimes" bill. Watch this video and then forward it to others, especially your pastor. Take Action! Contact your state Representative today -- right now, before it's too late -- and urge him to vote NO on House Bill 4836, the homosexual "hate crimes" legislation. Please forward this alert to urge your family, friends, neighbors, and fellow church members to join you in requesting a NO vote. Thank you for caring enough to get involved.   Sincerely, Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman American Family Association

 

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