First, the bad news. Alliance Defense Fund has announced that there has been a class action lawsuit filed:
State Class Action Lawsuit Filed Challenging California Marriage Amendment
PR Newswire: “This lawsuit claims that section 7.5 of Article I violates the equal protection clause of the State Constitution. McCoy said, ‘we chose to bring this lawsuit in State Court rather than in Federal Court because sexual orientation is a protected class under California State Law and it is not recognized in Federal Law.’”
The complaint: Burns v. State of California
However, as the following comment tells us, this might be a blessing in disguise:
Karen Grube
Posted June 28, 2009 at 9:09 am
I love it! This would be a terrific opportunity to blow the lid off of the concept that sexual orientation should be a protected class at all. I would challed this law firm to prove there is any real way to measure or determine one’s sexual orientation the way there is one’s race, gender, or age. There is no DNA test, no ‘gay gene’ to prove one’s sexual orientation. We could prove, in court, that it is simply a lifestyle choice! How cool would that be? I’m serious. This could be the perfect venue to repeal the so-called sexual orientation protections that currently exist in California state law. Oh, and besides that, I would challege it on the basis that having such protections violates federal law, since federal law doesn’t recognize such protections. This could be terrific! Use this as the opportunity to PROVE people don’t get special protections for their lifestyle choices! That would be wonderful!
Karen Grube makes some excellent points! Why is an aberrant behavior being given protections in California state law that are not recognized in federal law? Should people get special protections (read: over and above the protections of those who do not participate in such behaviors??) for their lifestyle choices?
This is exactly why the "hate crimes" legislation currently being debated in Congress must not pass! Not only would there be special protections for an aberrant sexual deviancy, but there would be SPECIAL PUNISHMENT(S) FOR THOUGHTS OF THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR IS A SEXUAL DEVIANCY!
On the good news front, Pastor DL Foster has launched his new Gay Christian Movement Watch website!
GCMWatch
You can read more details about GCMWatch here. Also, it is very helpful to read Examining the Gay Christian Movement
Fellow Christian blogger, Neil Simpson has an excellent post up at his Eternity Matters blog.
The Sin of Sodom
I have cross-posted it at my Protect Biblical Marriage blog: Biblical Fallacies of Pro-Gay Theology and have added commentary and additional links on this hotly debated topic.
Hat Tips:
Alliance Defense Fund
Gay Christian Movement Watch
Eternity Matters
A hope they are found to be a protected class as they would fall under the legal definition of:
ReplyDelete"a group of people protected from discrimination and harassment."
With the number of gays and lesbians that are beat up, killed and generally harassed - they deserve this protection.
Religion already has this protection under under the Federal definition and that is definitely a choice.
Marie,
ReplyDeleteThere are several problems with finding certain people who engage in a particular type of behavior as a "protected class." I will name just a few.
1. The fact that the law itself, can be abused by dishonest people. Case in point. The entire Matthew Shepard case fell flat once it was revealed by the perpetrators that they killed the man for his money. Matthew's death was brutal and tragic - to say the least. However, making him the "poster boy" for hate crimes legislation turned out to be a false allegation. Also, there have been many instances where gays and lesbians have made up their attacks.
2. There are elderly people who are beat up, killed and generally harassed as well. Why not name them as a special class? Answer: because ALL CLASSES OF PEOPLE ARE ALREADY PROTECTED IN EXISTING LAW.
3. When the hate crimes bill language was being debated, ex-gay people asked that they, too, be placed in the protected class. They were turned down. Why? Because they didn't "fit" within the ideology of the liberal left homosexual activist groups - that's why.
4. The "hate crimes" bill would punish people for their "thoughts." If a gay person is harassed or killed, how would it be determined that they were killed because of their self-identification as "gay" or, as in the case of Shepard, because of a different reason? In the Shepard case, the murderers were given life in prison. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that they could have gotten the death penalty, but the murdered man's mother didn't want that.
5. Please do a search on Ake Green of Sweden. You will learn how far "hate crimes" legislation went to harass, charge, convict, and jail a pastor who preached from the Bible about the sin of homosexuality AT HIS CHURCH and was reported for a hate crime. After YEARS of pain, suffering, jail time, expense, etc. he was exonerated. This is the danger that "hate crimes" presents against freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and especially, the freedom to preach from the Bible about the sin of homosexual behavior which, as many born again ex-gays can tell you, can be confessed by the individual, repented of, and released from such bondage through the power of God in Christ Jesus.
protected class status will never stop murders or murderers. It will only make prisons larger.
ReplyDeletePeople's hearts have to be changed by Christ through hearing the gospel and repenting of their sin.
Thats both gays and the murderers.
I do have a question.
Why is there no attention on gays who murder other gays?
Shouldnt they be charged under a hate crime law since no one murders someone they love?