WASHINGTON (ABP) -- With the stroke of a pen Oct. 28, President Obama expanded federal hate-crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories, a goal for which gay-rights activists have been working for more than a decade.

Obama's action comes after both houses of Congress approved the provision over the objections of some conservative religious groups, who view it as the first step down a slippery slope toward abridging religious speech against homosexuality.

Supporters of the bill -- including many moderate and liberal Christian leaders -- say it will make it easier for federal and local authorities to investigate violent crimes motivated by bias against the victim's sexual orientation, racial background, gender and other characteristics.

"Today's signing of the first major piece of civil-rights legislation to protect LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Americans represents a historic milestone in the inevitable march towards equality," Joe Solmonese, president of the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, said in a press release.

Since 1968, federal hate-crimes laws have provided extra protection for crimes motivated by a victim's religion or ethnic background. The new law expands those categories to include sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. It also provides additional resources to state and local law-enforcement officials, who investigate and prosecute the vast majority of bias-motivated crimes.

Most states already have hate-crime laws, and several dozen of them include protections for disability, gender and sexual orientation. Laws in a handful of states and the District of Columbia also protect transgendered persons.

Religious-Right groups opposed to the new federal law said it could ultimately lead to prosecution of traditional Christians for expressing their beliefs about homosexuality.

"This law is a grave threat to the First Amendment because it provides special penalties based on what people think, feel, or believe." said Erik Stanley, senior counsel for the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, in a press release.  

Stanley said some Christian ministers in other countries with hate-crimes laws have been charged for inciting hatred against gays by preaching. "ADF has clearly seen the evidence of where 'hate crimes' legislation leads when it has been tried around the world," he said. "It paves the way for the criminalization of speech that is not deemed 'politically correct.'" he said.

Supporters of the law say other countries that have prosecuted ministers under hate-crime legislation don't have the same free-speech and religious-freedom safeguards as the United States. They also point out that already existing hate-crimes laws on the books for more than 40 years have not led to legal restrictions on free speech regarding racial or religious matters.

"As an American, I know the protection of personal dignity and human rights is a principle that makes us that much stronger as a nation, and certainly does not stand at odds with freedom of expression," Derrick Harkins, pastor of Washington's Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, said in a joint statement with other Christian leaders supporting the bill earlier this year. "Passage of the Hate Crimes Bill will help to ensure the safeguards of the law for those who are victimized by acts of bias and hate."

Joel Hunter, pastor of Northland Church in Orlando, Fla., also joined the statement. "I would think that the followers of Jesus would be first in line to protect any group from hate crimes," he said. "This bill protects both the rights of conservative religious people to voice passionately their interpretations of their scriptures and protects their fellow citizens from physical attack."

The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a homosexual college student murdered in 1998, and James Byrd, an African-American man dragged to his death while chained to a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas, also in 1998.

"My son was taken at such an early age and we hope this law will help prevent other families from going through what we experienced," said Stella Byrd, mother of James Byrd, according to the Human Rights Campaign. "Even though we're different colors and different sexual orientations or gender identities, God made us all and he loves us all."

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press. 

Previous ABP stories:

Hate-crimes bill divides evangelicals (4/30)

Hate-crimes bill delayed in Senate; some criticize opponents' tactics (6/19/2007)

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