Hate Crimes Law Could Muzzle Free Speech, Critics Fear

CNS News reports:

On Oct. 10, 2004, 70-year-old Linda Beckman went to jail overnight for publicly objecting to a homosexual rights rally in Philadelphia, an action that violated Pennsylvania's hate crimes law.

The grandmother of 10, who was one of 11 people arrested during a counter-protest, has now joined forces with social conservative groups in hopes of preventing a similar law from being enacted at a federal level.

"We were sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ," Beckman says in a forthcoming commercial arguing that federal hate crimes legislation threatens free speech. "When you send grandmothers to jail, it goes too far."

A House Judiciary subcommittee held hearings Tuesday on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which critics say would be similar to the Pennsylvania hate crimes law that allows prosecutions for alleged intimidation.

The proposal would essentially place homosexuals and lesbians in a protected class along with racial minorities.

Not everyone is for the free market in speech.