Dear Rep. John Kline – You Lie!
One of Minnesota’s congressional delegation was recently caught repeating the tired old lie that churches and religious leaders could be persecuted under a federal hate crimes bill currently before congress that would expand the definition of a hate crime to include gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability. PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning website that fact-checks public figures’ statements, evaluated GOP Rep. John Kline’s charge that “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.”
The verdict? False. These kinds of scare tactics – conflating hate speech and violent acts, and ignoring an individual’s free speech rights – have been used in the past to sap our neighbors’ support for laws recognizing the heinousness of a crime motivated by the victim’s identity.
Kline represents the unlucky residents of the southern suburbs of the Twin Cities — Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, Dakota, Rice, and Goodhue Counties.
Related posts:
- Bachmann, Kline bid to stop gay marriage in nation’s capital dismissed
- Bachmann slams hate crimes act on 700 Club
- Hate crimes bill passes Senate, waits for Obama’s signature
- Ellison, McCollum sponsor safe schools bill
- The National: Joe Solmonese, Are You Saying A Hate Crimes Law Isn’t The Pinnacle Of LGBT Advocacy?
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