The Matthew Shepard Act, a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the 1969 federal hate crimes law passed the House late last week as part of a large defense policy bill. It got some surprising support in Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen.
Paulsen hasn’t been a friend to pro-LGBT legislation. He opposed any relationship protections for LGBT couples when he was a House majority leader at the state legislature.
And Paulsen gained the support of America’s largest anti-LGBT outfit, Focus on the Family, last fall when he ran for the seat of retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad (Ramstad voted against the hate crimes bill during his tenure, but backed the very important Employment Non-Discrimination Act).
In fact, when Paulsen was tapped to be a speaker at a commencement in May at St. Olaf College, students protested over the Congressman’s vote against hate crimes laws.
When Benjamin Refling, a transgender man, learned of Paulsen’s vote earlier that spring, he contacted college president David R. Anderson.
“I told him I did not think that the choice of a politician with such divisive views would be conducive to the spirit of commencement, which should be a celebration of all the diverse talents and experiences of the class of ‘09,” Refling told the Minnesota Independent. “And that many LGBT students would be alienated by Paulsen’s refusal to support the recent hate crimes bill.”
Paulsen didn’t respond to our request for comment on his vote in support of the hate crimes bill.
Earlier this month, Paulsen faced pressure from LGBT (and ally) residents of the district when a half-dozen met at his district office, an event organized by the Human Rights Campaign. One constituent, Arnie, who is a the proud parent of a lesbian daughter, pointed to a sign at Paulsen office that read, “Equal Justice Under Law.” He said, “Those words were part of Rep. Paulsen’s oath of office, and I don’t like to see that he is not fulfilling that.” Arnie was referring to Paulsen’s previous “no” vote on hate crimes legislation.
Did that pressure move him to change his vote?
The vote change certainly wasn’t for lack of pressure by Republicans in Congress. Paulsen’s Congressional neighbor to the south, Rep. John Kline, railed against its passage.
“I disdain racism, sexism and bigotry,” wrote Kline in a recent press release. “But under this legislation, any pastor, preacher, priest, rabbi or imam who gives a sermon out of their moral traditions about sexual practices could be found guilty of a federal crime.”
Kline’s statement are, of course, not true. Politifact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking website, analyzed Kline’s statement and ruled it “False.”
“We certainly think it’s fair for Republicans to criticize the decision to add this controversial hate crime provision to a bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” PolitiFact wrote. “But we also think it’s wrong for opponents of the bill to again raise the scare tactic that it might lead to the prosecution of preachers who condemn homosexuality from the pulpit. The language of the bill makes abundantly clear that it would not. And we rule Kline’s statement False.”
And did Paulsen vote for the bill because it supported Republican-leaning defense issues?
Maybe, but only 44 Republicans voted for the bill. And that’s only 27 more than voted for the bill in April. And neither number would have helped or harmed the bill given the overwhelming support among Democrats; the bill passed by a vote of 281 to 146 — a margin of 135 votes.