Thank You !!! Members Of The Armed Services !!! 

Senate Votes To Add ‘Hate Crimes’ Amendment To Defense Bill!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

The U.S. Senate voted today to add the Kennedy-Smith hate crimes bill to the Department of Defense Reauthorization bill.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (Kennedy-Smith, S. 1105) will add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected minorities under federal law.

Sen. Kennedy claims there is a national epidemic of hate against homosexuals and cross-dressers that the federal government must get involved in local and state law enforcement policies to deal with this alleged epidemic.

“Why are Americans seeing such an onslaught of pro-homosexual/drag queen bills being rammed through the House and Senate this month? It’s simple: the Human Rights Campaign is holding a huge love fest for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on October 3rd,” said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. “They want to have a legislative victory to crow about at this Pelosi event. Congress is committed to catering to the homosexual/drag queen lobby rather than being committed to the truth. And, they’re willing to exploit our military by adding this non-germane amendment to a defense budget bill. Shame on the Senate for approving this hate crimes amendment!”

TVC’s report, S. 1105 – The So-Called Hate Crimes Bill, outlines the false claims in the bill and the dangers of this legislation to freedom of religion, thought, and to local law enforcement.

The passage of S. 1105 by a 60-39 vote was only possible because numerous Republicans sided with Kennedy on this legislation. The following Republicans made this victory possible for Ted Kennedy and the homosexual lobby:

Norm Coleman (MN)

Collins (ME)

Gregg (NH)

Richard Lugar (IN)

Gordon Smith (OR)

Olympia Snowe (ME)

Arlen Specter (PA)

George Voinovich (OH)

John Warner (VA)

“Senator Norm Coleman’s vote was a particular disappointment to TVC. It appears that the Senate has once again been compromised by political correctness instead of standing for the truth about the serious dangers posed by this bill,” said Lafferty. “The legislation is based upon inaccuracies and outright falsehoods about hate crimes. Sen. Coleman should have known better.”

The Yes and No votes on Kennedy-Smith. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did not vote.

YEAs ---60
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Clinton (D-NY) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI)	Feinstein (D-CA) Gregg (R-NH) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA)	Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Salazar (D-CO) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---39
Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Barrasso (R-WY) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX)	Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK)	Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Martinez (R-FL) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA)

Not Voting - 1
McCain (R-AZ)

TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon noted: “President Bush has promised to veto the Department of Defense Reauthorization bill if the Kennedy-Smith amendment is included. The Democrats, however, now have fuel to use against Bush to claim he doesn’t care about the American soldier or our War on Terrorism. It is clear they hope to use this vote to score political points against the Republican Party and to influence the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.”

TAKE ACTION: If your U.S. Senator voted to approve Kennedy-Smith, contact them and ask how they can justify such a vote in the face of the facts about hate crimes. Ask them to read and respond to TVC’s report on Kennedy-Smith. If your Senator voted NO on Kennedy-Smith, thank them for doing so – and email them a copy of TVC’s report.

Use TVC’s CapWiz service to contact them: CapWiz.

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

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