October 29, 2009 – President Obama signed the “hate Christians” bill at a ceremony at the White House yesterday afternoon. The legislation, known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909), is based on false assumptions about the extent of “hate” directed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people.

The hate crimes bill was added as an amendment to a defense authorization bill by liberals who wanted to make sure it passed this year. Conservatives protested that “hate crimes” had nothing to do with our nation’s national defense, but Democrats hold the majority in both the Senate and House.

The gay legal group Lambda Legal says that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has promised to use this so-called “hate crimes” law extensively.

Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director, Andrea Lafferty, noted: 

In reality, this legislation is a “hate Christians” act because it will target Christians for prosecution not only for violent acts against LGBT individuals, but for speech that might have “incited” or “induced” another person to act in a violent manner toward LGBT persons.

The legislation is based on a laughable list of “findings” that have no basis in fact – in order to justify use of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution to impose federal control over state and local law enforcement.