I have been rather lax lately in blogging; mainly due to the fact that nothing of great significance has been happening in my life and there has not been any “event” that have ruffled my tail feathers. Well, of course that was not going to last. I was delighted to hear this past week that the House of Representatives finally passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a/k/a Matthew Shepard Act, by a vote of 249-175 and hopefully will be sanctioned by the Senate.
The LLEHCPA will authorize the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute certain bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Currently, the federal government can only investigate hate crimes motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, and national origin. It will also provide local authorities with more resources to combat hate crimes and give the federal government jurisdiction over prosecuting hate crimes in states where the current law is inadequate.
What I found to be “disturbing” was, not just the very high number that voted nay but anti-gay speeches made by some of the representatives arguing against its passage. Particularly that of Rep. Virginia Foxx who stated that the Matthew Shepard incident was just being used as a “hoax” to get the legislation passed. Yes, she used the word hoax and it took some effort to contain an outburst of angry on my part. Breath in slow – Breath out slow. I am forever perplexed at the denial of substantiated facts and evidence that is maintained by some individuals and particularly so when they are propagated by those is positions of authority and responsibility. Perhaps legislation should be passed to require all members of Congress to take and pass an IQ test before they can “seated.”
Does Rep. Foxx still believe the world is flat, constellations are celestial beings, sea monsters swallow up ships at sea, the universe was made in six days, the holocaust never happened (Bishop Williamson), the stork brings babies, the sun moves around the earth (condemn Galileo for suggesting otherwise), use of condoms causes AIDS (thank you Pope Benedict), and that California is a country (oops that was Miss. California). What is so disheartening is that it is not just Rep. Foxx making such innate assertions but so many others who unfortunately have a public forum and that so many others listen and believe. I can only hope that in the end common sense and reason will prevail – in the meantime, I must go and smooth down my ruffled tail feathers. After all, they are rather pretty - don't you agree?
