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A conservative lobbyist says congressional Democrats knew all along that their hate crimes legislation would not be included in a major defense policy bill.House and Senate negotiators have dropped a provision from the 2008 Defense Authorization bill that would have included crimes against homosexuals in federal hate crimes statutes. The conferees decided to drop the hate crimes legislation sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) after deciding it would threaten passage of the entire defense bill in the House.Andrea Lafferty is executive director of Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), a conservative group that predicted the hate crimes language would be removed. "The House Democrats knew they didn't have the votes to keep it in. The Senate Democrats fought to keep it in," She states."But in the end I think it was part of a political ploy to keep the homosexual [and] transgender community activated, all-the-while knowing that they were going to pull it and go ahead and push the Kennedy bill next year," she asserts.The TVC spokeswoman claims they pulled the measure because Democrats did not want to be seen as "anti-military." But Lafferty warns that come late January or early February, Democrats will re-ignite their push to pass the Kennedy hate crimes bill and the homosexual jobs legislation known as ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). Opponents of the hate crimes bill have stated that the measure threatens the free speech of religious conservatives and amounts to "thought crimes" legislation.As in the days of Noah...
