The video of an unarmed African-American being shot and killed in Brunswick, GA has prompted calls for Hate Crimes legislation to be enacted in Georgia. This includes the Speaker of the House, David Ralston, who told the AJC he wanted it passed out of the Senate with “no delay and no amendments.” Please read further for detailed information about the current Hate Crimes bill.

House Bill 426 — So-called “Hate Crimes” legislation will enhance the punishment for crimes involving bias or prejudice. Presumes that law enforcement will know the motivation of any crime. It not only includes protection for various government selected groups, but also uses the word “perceived” which would mean that law enforcement could claim a hate crimes violation, even if the victim is not actually a part of any of these government protected groups.

Status: Passed out of Committee on Feb. 26, 2019 and passed the full House on March 7, 2019. It was amended in a Senate Committee, but still passed 47-6. Gov. Kemp is expected to sign it on June 26.

Please read the additional information below regarding problems with this legislation:

• Violates equal protection by treating some victims as more worthy of protection than others.
• Punishes thoughts, not actions. “Hate crime” bills ignore that the act is already a crime; instead, they ramp up punishment because the perpetrator was thinking something the government disapproves of. Empowering the government to assess and approve/disapprove thoughts is a very totalitarian concept.
• Injects identity politics into Georgia criminal law.
• Will inevitably be used against Christians, as has happened in Canada and the UK (see below).
• For the first time in Georgia Code, enshrines “sexual orientation” as worthy of special protection.
• Does not define “sexual orientation,” leaving that term open to expansion. The American Psychological Association and other LGBT activists are already pushing to have pedophilia reclassified as a sexual orientation (see this article for a good explanation: https://thefederalist.com/2019/02/21/pedophile-project-7-year-old-next-sexual-revolutions-hit-parade/). When that happens (and it will), and if the hate crimes bill passes, Georgia criminal law will give special protection to pedophiles.
• NOT NECESSARY. The burden should be on the proponents to show that victims who fall into these special categories are currently not being protected. The proponents have made no effort to do so. In fact, because true “hate crimes” are so rare, they are the most widely faked episodes in American criminal law. As someone has said, when it comes to hate crimes, demand greatly exceeds supply. See http://www.fakehatecrimes.org/.
• See also: https://www.christianpost.com/news/canada-anti-transgender-speech-hate-crime-prison-fine.html
• See also: https://www.christian.org.uk/news/christians-unfairly-targeted-for-hate-crime-prosecutions/