By Rev. Mark H. Creech
Executive Director
Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.

Monday, the New Jersey Assembly passed legislation that would expand New Jersey's current laws against hate crimes and bullying.

According to Mission America, bullying or hate crimes based on "gender identity or expression" and "national origin" will be specifically prohibited. The measure creates additional penalties for those guilty of a hate crime; mandating completion of a sensitivity training course and a counseling program; and requiring payment or donation of services to organizations "that provide services to victims of bias intimidation." It adds the crime to the list of crimes to which the state Victims Crimes Compensation Agency (VCCA) may "award payments or other compensation." It requires quarterly reports on such crimes to be filed by local police and the state Office of the Attorney General. The Office of the Attorney General, in turn, is required to maintain a central repository of information about such crimes, which must be available to the public.

The legislation further requires the New Jersey Police Training Commission, working with the state's Human Relations Council to provide new police officers with specialized training "in identifying, responding to, and reporting" of hate crimes.

Moreover, the bill establishes a 13 member "Commission on Bullying in Schools," which is charged with studying and regulating "bullying laws; the adequacy of legal remedies available to students of bullying, the legal protections available to teachers who comply with school bullying policies; the training of teachers and law enforcement personnel in responding to incidents of bullying; and the implementation of possible collaboration between the State Department of Education and the Division of Civil Rights to produce a statewide initiative against school bullying."

The New Jersey Assembly's recent expanding of its hate crimes statutes is part of both a national and state-wide agenda by homosexual activists. New Jersey certainly seems far away and the passage of similar legislation in the Tar Heel State certainly seems as remote. But its really not!

Just last year the Christian Action League worked vigorously to defeat HB 1366 — School Violence Prevention Act. The bill directed school boards to adopt policies to prohibit bullying and defined such behavior as: "acts reasonably perceived as being motivated by any actual or perceived characteristics, such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, physical appearance, sexual orientation, or mental, physical, or sensory disability." The measure passed the House, but the Senate refused to take up the bill with the objectionable language and passed a substitute bill which removed it. The House, however, never took up the Senate's substitute bill. Instead the House sent the measure to a Committee where it could be revisited in the 2008 Session with the possibility of reinserting the objectionable language.

The Christian Action League is most certainly opposed to all acts of harassment, bullying or violence. Nevertheless, we remain opposed to so-called hate crimes legislation or policies that grant special rights to homosexuals and equalize their sexual perversions with religion and immutable (unchangeable) characteristics such as race, color, ancestry, gender, national origin, and disability.

It's important to understand the real motivation behind such measures. When codified, they send a strong message to society that homosexuality is a predetermined and unalterable condition. It's a cultural affirmation that homosexuality is like being black, or female, or handicapped. Such an assertion might have merit if the evidence wasn't so stacked against it. To date, science has still discovered no homosexual gene and if such were alleged to be found; it wouldn't explain the millions of ex-homosexuals in the world?

The truth is homosexuals are already protected against crimes of violence and harassment just like everyone else. Including homosexuals as a part of hate crimes legislation is just another way of legitimizing homosexual behavior.

Moreover, it's another way of smashing any opposition to homosexual behavior. In Special Rights for Homosexuals: Why Sexual Orientation Should Not be a Protected Class (A North Carolina Family Policy Council Position Paper), Alysse Michelle ElHage writes:

"Robert Knight...testified...before a Senate Committee that the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 actually 'creates thought crime' because the violent acts are already against the law.

'Furthermore, some in the media and in the government have begun to interpret public opposition to normalizing homosexuality as 'hate.' Homosexual activists have characterized even mild formulations of opposing views as a proximate cause of violence,' said Mr. Knight. 'As football great Reggie White and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott learned...expressing the biblical view that homosexuality is sinful is scarcely tolerated among some activists.'

Then, of course, there is the media reaction to Matthew Shepard's brutal murder for which many pro-family groups were blamed. The crime? An ad campaign where former homosexuals talk about how God changed their lives and helped them to leave the lifestyle. Supposedly, these types of messages instigate prejudice against homosexuals and lead to crimes of violence against them."

One needs only to look carefully at the New Jersey legislation to see what homosexual activists really want — mandatory sensitivity and counseling programs that are essentially homosexual indoctrination — threats of reprisals in the form of payments and compensations — strict records kept of any "bias intimidations" — police officers specially trained to deal with such so-called "intimidation" — a 13 member state Bullying Commission to regulate who is and isn't towing the line on the complete acceptance of gays, lesbians, and transgenders in the school system. Laws of this nature create such an environment of fear that people will likely never utter a word against homosexuality; much less do violence against a homosexual. The whole thing is fascist in nature!

Granted, the proposed North Carolina law (HB 1366-School Violence Prevention Act) passed by the North Carolina House is not nearly as extensive as the one passed by the New Jersey Assembly. But it's the same snake. And given the opportunity to grow, it would become just as venomous.

What is more, strong forces that are "in the same bed" figuratively or politically speaking, with homosexual activist, are backing the North Carolina legislation. No lawmaker is more powerful in the North Carolina General Assembly than the Speaker of the House, Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Orange). And Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), sponsor of HB 1366, is one of the most powerful lawmakers in the North Carolina House. So it is no small matter that Speaker Joe Hackney presented an award for legislative leadership to Rep. Rick Glazier at a recent conference of Equality North Carolina (a state-wide advocacy and lobbying organization for gay rights), for what their web site described as his "ground breaking work on our anti-bullying bill."

Could what happened in New Jersey happen in North Carolina? Yes, and it ultimately will if HB 1366 — School Violence Prevention Act passes and becomes law. This law is the gateway to what we see taking place in the Bay State. It means affirming the grossest of sexual perversions in law — more people dieing young because of disease — the loss of many a soul to eternal life — and the beginning of the end of free speech.

Take Action: Help the Christian Action League prepare for this battle against HB 1366 by passing this story along to others and encouraging them to subscribe to our Weekly Issues Alert at this address: http://www.christianactionleague.org/email-alerts/