This May, I was invited by Exodus International
to go to Washington D.C. and lobby Congress
and Senate against impending Hate Crimes Legislation.
You may be asking, “What is Hate Crimes
Legislation?”
Called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes
Prevention Act of 2007 (HR 1592), this
Federal bill would prosecute “crimes of
violence…motivated by prejudice based
on the actual or perceived race, color, religion,
national origin, gender, sexual orientation,
gender identity, or disability of the victim…”(HR
1592 Section 4 [C]) On first glance, this seems
totally acceptable. Who would not agree that
everyone, including homosexuality-identified
people, should be protected from violence?
In addition, the bill claims to prosecute crimes
of violence motivated by prejudice based on
the “religion” of the victim. Therefore,
religious people will be protected against violence
perpetrated against them due to prejudice. But
will this law protect religious people who do
not advocate homosexuality based on religious
conviction? Is a Christian who says that homosexuality
is a sin committing a hate crime? Consider the
following international and national cases:
In British Columbia, a Catholic city counselor
has been ordered to pay a homosexual couple
$1,000 for publicly saying that their lifestyle
is “not normal and not natural.”
The state interpreted his religious beliefs
as “hate speech” under Canada’s
hate crimes law. 1 In Sweden, Pastor
Ake Greens read from the Bible at Borgholm,
Sweden church, and gave the Bible’s view
on homosexual practices. He was charged with
violating Sweden’s strict laws against
hate speech, specifically a crime of “expressing
contempt… on account of… ones sexual
orientation.” He was indicted, convicted,
and sentenced to 30 days in jail. 2
In Philadelphia, eleven Christians peacefully
carried signs and sang hymns at “Outfest”,
a homosexual street fair sponsored by the city.
The group was confronted by the “Pink
Angels” who blocked the eleven by interlocking
arms, shouting obscenities and shoving large
Styrofoam angels at them. When police arrived,
they arrested the eleven Christians. The group
spent 21 hours in jail, and the prosecutor,
Charles Erlich, called the defendants message
“hateful” and defined their witnessing
as “fighting words.” Eventually,
the charges against them were dismissed, but
had they been convicted, they would have faced
up to 47 years in prison and $90,000 in fines
each.3
In Chicago, a devout Catholic named Mary Stachowicz
was murdered by Nicholas Gutierrez, 19, who
punched, kicked, stabbed and strangled the 51-year-old
wife and mother of four. Gutierrez then stuffed
her body into a crawl space under the floor
of his apartment, where it remained for two
days until he confessed to police. According
to Chicago police, Gutierrez told police that
he had issues with his mother and that the way
Stachowicz was talking to him gave him flashbacks
of his mother that angered him.” According
to Gutierrez, he killed Stachowicz because she
had “lectured” him “about
his [homosexual] lifestyle and his lack of direction
in life.4”
Gutierrez’ action was not considered
a hate crime, and Stachowicz was perceived by
some to have committed the hate crime. Gay blogger,
James Wagner, said of Stachowicz’s strangling:
The woman who did such great evil is dead,
but unfortunately the evil and the church
and the society which creates it is not, and
it will continue to destroy Nicholas Gutierrez
and many others.5
Another blogger wrote:
Quite frankly, if anyone in this case was
being ‘persecuted’ it was Mr.
Gutierrez. Unfortunately for the victim this
was a lesson that she learned too hard and
too late. Maybe this will give pause to other
people who similarly try to ‘help’
homosexuals." — "Silence Dogood,"
on ACLU Online Forum.6
The category “hate crime” is subjective
at best. According to journalist, Rod Dreher,
“The American media made Matthew Shepard
an overnight cause célèbre, and
have so far said very little about Mary Stachowicz
— just as the media said very little about
Jesse Dirkhising, the 13-year-old Arkansas boy
raped, tortured, and strangled by homosexuals
in 1999.”7
The question that needs to be asked is “Do
we really need a federal hate crimes law? According
to Peter Spriggs, Vice President for Policy
at the Family Research Council “there
is no evidence that local authorities are failing
to investigate, prosecute, and punish, as they
should, violent crimes against homosexuals.
Special Thought Crime laws therefore serve no
practical purpose, other than advancing a political
agenda for the official government acceptance
of homosexual behavior.”8
As the executive director for OneByOne, I am
concerned that a federal hate crimes law would
inhibit the Church’s ability to minister
to those with unwanted same-sex attraction.
This should be a concern for all churches who
take a stand against advocacy of homosexuality
and who stand for the gospel message of grace
and transformation.
Already, I am witnessing fear in conservative
PCUSA churches (those who even support OneByOne)
to engage in local ministry. It is one thing
to vocally praise the ministry of OneByOne;
it is quite another to make the very unfashionable
decision to engage in ministry in one’s
own church. I have heard from more than a few
conservative churches that “our congregation
is just not ready.” My response to pastors
and elders and counselors and Stephen Ministers
is this: “Well, then get them ready.”
The conservative churches in the PCUSA need
to make themselves ready for what will be a
future onslaught of religious freedom in our
country, provoked by the issue of homosexual
rights. If I were not the director of OBO, I
would think my statement might be over the top,
but my position has afforded me a direct view
into our disturbing future.
Two years ago, in Boston, I was attending the
Love Won Out Conference hosted by Focus on the
Family at Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Over
a thousand protesters made up of pro-gay activists
and pro-gay and anti-war activists gathered
around the church and shouted: “This hatred
thing is getting old. This hatred thing has
gotta go!" and “Shut it Down!”
The angry protesters were not asked to disperse;
instead the police barricaded the doors to the
church, and we as participants were not allowed
to leave until the protesters chose to leave.
No secular media outlet accurately reported
what happened on that day.
If you have ever attended a Love Won Out Conference,
you would know that there is no hatred preached
at these conferences toward the homosexual community.
As the executive director of OBO, I frequently
attend and speak at these conferences. In fact,
the main speakers are men and women who have
struggled with homosexuality in the past and
who used to be gay activists themselves. These
speakers at the Love Won Out Conferences strongly
admonish conservative churches to be more loving
and caring toward the gay community.
In addition, some say that this federal hate
crimes bill is only limited to acts of violence
and would not infringe on our freedom of speech.
Recently, Jack Haberer wrote in the Presbyterian
Outlook: “The bill deals only with
violent crimes. It explicitly contains a provision
that says nothing in the bill should ‘be
construed to prohibit any expressive conduct
protected from legal prohibition by, or any
activities protected by the free-speech or free-exercise
clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution.’”9
Though Haberer is accurate in his statement,
Robert Gagnon explains that “free speech
rights even in this country do not extend to
‘intimidation’; that is, to words
or conduct that the alleged victim perceives
as threatening. It is through such a loophole
that hate crime legislation can be used to override
free-speech protections.” Gagnon accurately
states: “Haberer seems unaware of the
extent to which religious rhetoric against homosexual
practice has been tied to acts of violence,
real and imagined, against homosexual persons.”10
The incidences described in this article attest
to this reality.
May the Church open her eyes to what is happening
around her and within her. May she refuse to
believe that it is hateful to lovingly stand
against the advocacy of homosexuality and to
reach out with God’s grace and truth to
those who struggle with same-sex attraction.
May churches not be afraid to reach out to those
in their congregations (and staff) who struggle
with same-sex attraction for fear that they
may be sued or that they may look like hard-line
fundamentalists. May pastors be courageous enough
to take on “ex-gay” ministry in
their own congregations at the cost of losing
offended parishioners and at the cost of jeopardizing
their budgets.
Jesus said, “Anyone who does not take
up his cross and follow me is not worthy of
me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for my sake will find
it.” It is only the churches who take
these words of Jesus seriously that will be
standing in the end. By God’s grace, may
we be standing with those who stand with Him.
Kristin Johnson is the executive director
of OneByOne, a ministry within the Presbyterian
Church (USA) striving “to educate and
equip the church to minister the transforming
grace and power of Jesus Christ to those in
conflict with their sexuality."
1 “Canadian
City Counselor Fined $1000 for Saying Homosexuality
‘Not Normal or Natural’ January
19, 2007, LifeSite News.
2 “Swede’s Sermon on
Gays: Bigotry or Free Speech?” The
Washington Post, January 29, 2005.
3 Worldnet Daily, October
15, 2004.
4 Allyson Smith, “'Gay' Reaction
to Mrs. Stachowicz’s Murder: Silence to
Applause” Culture and Family Issues,
Concerned Women For America, December 4, 2002,
http://www.cultureandfamily.org.
5 Rod Dreher, “These Victims
are People, Too” National Review Online,
Nov. 26, 2002 http://www.nationalreview.com.
6 Smith, http://www.cultureandfamily.org
7 Dreher. http://www.nationalreview.com.
8 Peter Sprigg, In Focus:
“Questions and Answers: What’s Wrong
with Thought Crime (“Hate Crime”
Laws?” Family Research Council Publication.
9 Jack Haberer, “Hate Crimes”
The Presbyterian Outlook, May 28, 2007.
10 Robert Gagnon, “Putting
One's Money Where One's Mouth Is? Jack Haberer's
editorial supporting ‘Sexual Orientation
Hate’ crime legislation” May 30,
2007,
http://www.robgagnon.net.
