October 8, 2009
King: Liberals Use Worst Form of Politics to Pass “Hate Crimes” Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King today made the following statement in opposition to hate crimes provisions that were inserted into the Conference Report for H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.
“Today in the House we witnessed partisan politics at its worst. Liberals used a bill to fund our troops as a vehicle to pass new laws to protect classes of people that have never been defined or identified as a class before. This unconstitutional bill aims to protect new classes of people based on ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation.’
“These are classifications of people that are based on their inner feelings – their thoughts. Punishing ‘thought crimes’ will infringe on freedom of speech and religious expression, rights endowed to all Americans in the Constitution. Under this legislation, justice will no longer be equal. Instead, justice will depend on the race, gender, sexual orientation or protected status of the victim, setting up different penalties for the same crime.
“This ‘thought crimes’ bill shatters the American tradition of equal justice under the law.”
News Room Press Releases from Iowa State Representative Steve King
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