Hate Crimes Bill?

The conservative grass roots are up in arms over H.R. 254 [1], a bill before congress that would prohibit "certain acts of violence" causing "bodily injury... because of the actual or perceived religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of any person."

For some reason, many of these voices decry the legislation, claiming it will keep pastors from speaking about religious and cultural hot topics. As I read the law, speaking out against something is not a hate crime. Far from it, the bill focuses on physical actions that lead to bodily harm. The only viable argument I see the right making is it "giving homosexuals special rights... alongside race, religion and gender" [2]. This is an extremely tenuous slippery slope argument that is difficult to justify, but, unfortunately, will play into fears of many conservatives who will not look carefully at the bill.

On the conservative side, I think the worse threat is the bill's loose interpretation of interstate activities used to justify the passage. This is a thin line that can be more detrimental to individual liberties than prohibiting physical abuse based on "sexual orientation."

1. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:h.r.254:
2. http://www3.capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=9395716