"Hate Crimes" bill defeated; SB 777 on the ballot?

Following intense opposition from Pacific Justice Institute, concerned citizens and like-minded groups, the federal hate-crimes legislation has been removed from a defense spending bill. Meanwhile, the massive effort to counter pro-homosexual mandates for schools in California is entering the home stretch, reports Galina Bondar.

Earlier this year, PJI president Brad Dacus testified before Congress in opposition to the "hate crimes" bill, often referred to as "thought crimes" because it threatened federal intrusion into churches and intimidation of religious people who oppose immoral behavior. Despite intense public opposition, the House passed the "thought crimes" bill, and the Senate amended an unrelated defense spending bill to include it. However, during a House-Senate conference to iron out differences in the bills, congressional leaders realized late last week that they did not have the political cover for including such a controversial measure -which President Bush had threatened to veto-with the defense bill. They therefore removed the hate-crimes provisions.

Meanwhile, in California, the referendum to place SB 777 on the ballot is entering the final stretch. PJI ally Capitol Resource Family Impact has worked overtime to send out an astounding 300,000 official petitions, with space for 3,000,000 signatures-more than enough to place the referendum on the ballot. The positive responses from thousands of citizens throughout California has been gratifying to CRFI staff; however, many more petitions need to be actually completed and returned to their headquarters before the January 4 deadline in order to ensure the campaign's success. To learn more about the historic SB 777 referendum and how you can help, visit www.saveourkids.net. PJI serves as legal counsel to the SB 777 campaign.

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, "These two encouraging developments remind us both how far we have come, and the task still ahead of us. The defeat of the hate crimes bill is a major victory which we have sought since early this year. At the same time, it is within our reach to defeat SB 777-the most blatant attempt yet to mandate pro-homosexual and transgender propaganda in schools. We urge all friends of liberty to send CRFI their completed petitions as soon as possible."

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[01/03/2008]

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