Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Proposed hate crime law takes hits from gay-rights opponents
BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saying a new hate crime ordinance is a roundabout way to establish special legal protections for gays and lesbians, two conservative leaders opposed it Monday before Cincinnati City Council.
But supporters said Cincinnati's history and its current laws promote crimes against gays and lesbians, and they urged passage.
It was the first discussion of a package of three ordinances proposed by Councilman Todd Portune that would:
• Add a hate crime section to city law.
• Support a similar change in state law.
• Adopt police procedures patterned after Cook County, Ill., when responding to hate crimes.
Many communities have considered hate crime laws in the wake of the beating death of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, and the murder of James Byrd, who was dragged behind a pickup near Jasper, Texas.
Mr. Portune's ordinance would create harsher punishments for crimes committed “by reason of the actual or perceived gender, disability or sexuality of another person.”
Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, said the proposal to punish perception amounts to thought control.
“Are there any other laws in Cincinnati where people can be arrested for what they're thinking?” he asked city council's Law Committee. In Canada, he said, a radio host can be charged with a hate crime for speaking out against homosexuality. “That's censorship,” he said.
David Langdon, a Cincinnati attorney for the Christian Coalition, said the proposal is an attempt to “legitimize behavior that many people believe is morally wrong.”
The backdrop of the discussion is Cincinnati's Issue 3, a 1993 charter amendment by voters that prohibited the city from adopting any laws protecting gays and lesbians.
Michael Blankenship blamed Issue 3 for a higher incidence of intimidation of gays and lesbians here.
Deputy City Solicitor Robert Johnstone said he had concerns about some of the wording.
Mr. Portune, a lawyer, said punishing hate crime more harshly is akin to enforcing greater penalties for violence against a police officer or public official. “(Hate crimes) are perpetrated to intimidate an entire community, and that's why we're justified in making them separately criminal,” he said.
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