Can someone explain to Rep. Foxx the difference between hate crimes and hate speech laws?
The House of Representatives today is debating a hate crimes bill which, among other things, would impose heightened penalties for crimes “motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim.” One of the GOP leaders opposing the bill on the House floor is Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, and — bizarrely and rather amusingly — she decided to feature something I wrote as a basis for her opposition to the bill. The two-minute audio of Rep. Foxx’s doing this is here. She begins by announcing that “liberal commentator Glenn Greenwald, certainly no apologist for conservatives like myself, has some strong words for hate crimes bills.” She goes on to state: “writing on Salon.com, he called hate crimes laws ‘oppressive and pernicious’.” She then explains that I “summarize[d] the consequences of this type of legislation very well,” and proceeded to read at length from this po
(updated below – Update II – Update III) The House of Representatives today is debating a hate crimes bill which, among other things, would impose heightened penalties for crimes “motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim.” One of the GOP leaders opposing the bill on the House floor is Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, and — bizarrely and rather amusingly — she decided to feature something I wrote as a basis for her opposition to the bill.
