The Religious Right is up in arms about a recently introduced hate-crimes bill by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.)

The Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition is swinging wildly as usual, dubbing the measure the "Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen 'Hate Crime' Bill".

In a March 28 alert, Sheldon blustered, "This so-called Hate Crimes Bill begins to lay the legal framework to persecute and prosecute those who refuse, for moral and religious reasons, to agree or teach their children that homosexuality, transgender, cross-dressing, etc is normal and desirable. Ultimately, a pastor's sermon concerning homosexuality could be considered an incitement to violence and punished with a fine or prison."

In fact, the bill, more formally known as the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2007," authorizes the federal government to help local police departments prosecute violent crimes committed because the victim was a certain race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, or because of his or her sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

In a desperate attempt to vilify the gay community and paint themselves as victims of the "militant homosexual" agenda, Religious Right activists are grasping at straws to defeat this broadly popular bipartisan bill.

Several groups claim that the Act would put us on the fast track to criminalizing Christianity. Just look at what's happened in Sweden, England and Canada, they say, where hate crime laws have "become charters for the persecutions of Christians." They point to pastors who have been arrested and fined for speaking out against homosexuality and warn that "if [the Act is] passed, the public reading of certain passages from the Bible will be illegal."

Nonsense. Americans enjoy unparalleled freedom of speech and religion; the First Amendment broadly protects speech of all sorts. We tolerate the most vitriolic language and ideas, but we do not tolerate violent crimes. People who murder, rape, abuse, assault or abduct a person because the victim is a certain race, religion or sexual orientation deserve to be punished for their actions.

The Act actually protects free speech, religion and association by explicitly barring the use of speech, religious belief or association to prove criminal activity unless it specifically relates to the crime. (The free-speech guardians at the ACLU have signed off on the measure after resisting it for seven years.)

So, you can stand on a corner and read aloud from your Bible all day long, but use that Bible as a weapon in a violent crime against the gay person strolling by (because he is gay), and there's going to be a serious problem.

The Religious Right also incorrectly claims that the Act would create "special" rights for gays and drag queens by "elevating homosexuality and cross-dressing behaviors."

Equal rights are not "special" rights. Yes, Conyers' bill helps local law enforcement officials prosecute violent hate crimes against minorities, but it does not limit prosecution to majority offenders.

Everyone – gay, straight, transgendered or indifferent – has a sexual identity. The Act would treat violent crimes committed against straight women because they are straight the same as it treats violent crimes against gay people because they are gay. The former crimes may be rarer, but they are protected just the same.

It's ironic, really, that a group that claims to be the victim of "militant" attacks is fighting a law that could just as easily protect them from hate crimes as it does those they hate.

Special Note: AU will be participating in the blogswarm "Blog Against Theocracy" this weekend. Check it out at blogagainsttheocracy.blogspot.com.