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Ga. Legislature to Vote on Bullying Bill

Georgia Equality has issued an alert urging the LGBT community to call your state senator and urge him or her to vote “yes” on an anti-bullying bill, scheduled for a vote today. SB 461 would amend current law to strengthen schools’ efforts to stop bullying. Introduced, ironically, by a decidedly right-wing Republican, the bill changes the definition of bullying in schools from “student” to “person” and would include non-physical threats as a form of bullying. Senator Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) told Southern Voice that he introduced the bill in response to an bullying incident in his district.

Sen. Rogers is best known for his crusade against illegal immigration and allegations of campaign sign-stealing during his re-election campaign. The anti-bullying bill is co-sponsored by another Republican, Senator Judson Hill (R-Marietta), a decidedly conservative politician who campaigned as “pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.” His positions are obviously anti-gay, but his cosponsorship could inadvertantly protect LGBT students from harrassment and violent attacks in Georgia schools.

In light of the recent murder of California junior high school student Lawrence King, shot in the face by a fellow student because he was gay, the anti-bullying bill is particularly timely. Call your state senator now and urge them to support SB 461. To find your senator, visit votesmart.org.

You Too Can Join the Sit-in Against Hate Crime on YouTube

YouTube users are posting videos in honor of 15-year-old hate crime victim Larry King in hopes of raising awareness of homophobia.  The continuous stream of videos includes video blogs, a message from Lizzy the Lezzy and Gary the Gay, a clip of Ellen Degeneres discussing the incident on her show, and many more.  By viewing the stream, users help keep the tribute at the top of YouTube’s list.  At this writing, the stream has been at the top of the list for more than 24 hours.   You can also post your own tribute and chat with other viewers.

With the attention YouTube gets from other media, perhaps this gimmick will finally prompt news organizations to pay more attention to victims of homophobia.  Even though Larry was shot at school, the incident received virtually no national news coverage.  Just a few days after he was shot, a college campus shooting was the top story nationwide.  Perhaps Larry’s death was not considered newsworthy because only one young man died.  Or perhaps it was because his skin is brown.  Or perhaps it was because he was gay.  No matter the reason, there’s no excuse for a lack of concern when a 15-year-old boy is murdered simply because he is gay.  There’s no excuse for continuing to tolerate gay-hate-baiting by our politicians and our preachers.  Ever since Karl Rove and company turned “gay marriage” into a talking point, conservative pundits, politicos and fundamentalist preachers have pulled no punches in their attempts to demonize and marginalize the queer community.  It’s time for this country to change the tone.  It’s time to return to a respect for our differences, or at least respect for human life.  It’s too late for Larry King, but outrage can be changed into action, and action against hate crime would be a welcomed change of pace.

You can learn more about Larry, see photos and videos,  and contribute to a memorial fund at his family’s tribute site at rememberlarry.com.  The YouTube streaming sit in URL is http://youtube.com/stream?s=1785069568.

Phelps Family Won’t Let Heath Ledger Rest in Peace

Fred Phelps and his family cult are at it again. His Westboro Baptist Church announced their intention to protest at actor Heath Ledger’s U.S. memorial services. The actor, who was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, is expected to be buried in his native Australia.

Classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed thousands of LGBT events, including funerals. The Topeka, Kansas group has more recently turned its rage toward the U.S. military, protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in action in Iraq. Their clearly irrational “rationale” is that God is punishing America for being tolerant of gays and lesbians by killing U.S. soldiers with IEDs.

Phelps’ church posted a bulletin on one of its many hate Websites announcing their intention to picket the actor’s U.S. memorial services, because he portrayed a gay cowboy in the ground-breaking film Brokeback Mountain. Heath Ledger was not a homosexual; he just played one in the movies.

And again, the media is covering Phelps’ announcement as a “church’s” protest. Yet Westboro Baptist “Church” is attended only by members of Fred Phelps’ immediate family. (Read my post about the Showtime documentary Fall from Grace for a full rant on the Phelps clan.) Just because Phelps twists the pages of the bible, picking and choosing the passages to follow, doesn’t make him a minister and doesn’t make his family a church. There is a more accurate term for Westboro. It’s clearly a cult built around the rage and abuse of one father, from which only four of his 13 children managed to escape.

From all media accounts (which, in their own right, have gone way overboard in sensationalizing the actor’s death), Heath Ledger was a tolerant man. His love for his daughter and family were obvious. If only those who were moved by Ledger’s art were less tolerant of the kind of hate and hurt that the Phelps family plans to interject into the actor’s memory. May Heath rest in peace.

Ga. Legislature May Detour Hate Crimes Legislation

In an article published yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that efforts to restore hate crimes protection in Georgia may be out of reach in the upcoming 2008 session. Georgia’s original hate crimes law, passed in 2000 under Democratic leadership, was thrown out by the state Supreme Court in 2004 due to “vague” wording. State Senator Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) proposed a bill to restore the law last year, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee but never made it to the Senate floor. Instead, Georgia’s Republican-led Senate opted for a measure by newbie Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), which simply proposed study on the issue. Cowsert’s study group has met twice, with no one speaking in objection to including LGBT Georgians in any hate crimes bill. The director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and groups representing police chiefs, prosecutors and sheriff’s departments all expressed support for hate crimes protection at a November hearing.

Meanwhile, Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson has said he is not inclined to address the issue. Sen. Cowsert told the AJC that including LGBT citizens “could be a factor” in whether or not the legislature will support a bill. And Sadie Fields of the Georgia Christian Alliance, a leading voice of anti-gay hate during Georgia’s marriage amendment debate in 2004, told the AJC that “We definitely would oppose any legislation that included sexual orientation.” Poor Sadie. If she only had a heart.

Among the excuses Republicans use to justify excluding the LGBT community from hate crimes protection is a concern that such a law would have a “chilling effect” on a church’s ability to preach hate from the pulpit. It would seem that such hate speech is chilling in its own regard. But that argument is a red herring. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), all but five states (Georgia among them) have figured out how to punish hate without silencing speech, even if it’s hateful speech. In fact the AJC article quotes ADL Lawyer David Barkey that Georgia already has laws in place that distinguish between freedom of speech and criminal acts. (Unfortunately, Georgia is not in such limited company when it comes to specific hate crime protection for the LGBT community: 14 of the 45 states that do have some measure of hate crime protection did not include sexual orientation in their laws. Only 11 states include gender identity. See ADL’s state hate crime comparison chart for the details.)

The other Republican argument is equally hollow. We’ve all heard it before: crime is crime. It’s already illegal. They make no effort to explain, then, why law enforcement and prosecutors overwhelmingly want a hate crimes law. And the right-wing pot has no qualms calling the kettle black when it comes to specific punishment for flag-burning. If we follow their logic, flag-burning is destruction of property–already a crime. Why then have Republicans always postured for extra punishment just because that property is the American Flag?

If you look behind the curtain, you can see such Republican wizardry for what it is: just a bunch of old white guys trying to look strong and powerful, turning the knobs and pulling the levers of religion to suit their own agenda. Homophobia is an effective diversion, in lieue of a strong economy, affordable and accessible healthcare, schools that make America competitive for the future, or a foreign policy that foster respect rather than distrust and disdain. Republicans continue to attempt to hold on to power through fear and exclusion, rather than effective governance. The right wing wants Georgia and the nation to follow them down this yellow brick road again. Please. Don’t make me get the flying monkeys.

Senate Passes Hate Crimes Prevention Act

As expected, the U.S. Senate voted yesterday on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and as expected, the majority of the Republican Party chose to side with hypocrisy and divisive politics. The Republican minority hoped to filibuster the bill but were thwarted by a 60-39 super-majority vote, thanks to the tolerance of nine Republican and two independent Senators. An article in today’s The Washington Post reported that Republicans hoped to remove the provision in final negotiations with the House. In the event that effort fails, GOP party leaders will reportedly encourage President Bush to follow through on his threat the veto the bill.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Gordon H. Smith (D-Oregon) are among the most valiant heroes in this effort. Sen. Kennedy likened hate crimes to domestic terrorism, attaching it to funding for President Bush’s war in Iraq. This will make it much more uncomfortable for the President to veto the bill. After months of spin linking war funding to support for the troops, it will be interesting to see if Bush can call upon his college cheerleading skills in any sort of acrobatic move around the pro-military stake that he and his party drove into the ground. Sen. Smith introduced the legislation then stayed the course, keeping crimes of homophobia on his agenda longer than Bush has kept U.S. troops in Iraq. In his comments to the Senate yesterday, Smith said:

“For the last seven years I have entered a hate crime almost every day into the Senate Record. I’ve entered hundreds upon hundreds of individual hate crimes into this record to demonstrate the need for this legislation. Many of these crimes are extremely brutal. Some even result in the death of the victim. I do this to raise awareness. I do it to demonstrate the severity of these attacks and to show the frequency of these violent crimes. I also do it to remember these often nameless victims and to give a human face to these senseless acts of violence.”

The Matthew Shepard Act is not yet law, but the Democratic Party—plus nine fair-minded Republicans—gave the LGBT community pause to celebrate yesterday. In this moment, it is important to remember that it was the brutal death of Matthew Shepard which put a very real, very American face on violence against homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons.

The dedication of Judy and Dennis Shepard deserves much of the credit for raising awareness of hate crimes. Through their work with the Matthew Shepard Foundation, they built support for legislation against hate crimes targeting the LGBT community. Through one mother’s sacrifice, from her personal pain, comes an opportunity for every LGBT American to feel a little bit safer.