Date: Sat, 29 Jan 1994 11:43:45 -0500 From: "David B. O'Donnell" Subject: INDIANA RESIDENTS: *TELEPHONE* to support Hate Crimes Bill 28 January 1994 / Bloomington, Indiana Craig Resta cmresta@indiana.edu ********************************************************************* The Indiana General Assembly is considering passage of a Hate Crimes Bill that would gather information about hate-motivated crimes and impose stiffer penalties on criminals who chose their victims on the basis of their race, gender, religion, national origin, or SEXUAL ORIENTATION. If this bill passes, it will be the first Indiana law that explicitly includes us in its language. The Hate Crimes Bill, H.B. 1100, was passed out of committee yesterday, and is likely to come up for second reading on Tuesday, Feb. 1. This is the crucial stage where amendments can be made from the floor, and there is an effort underway by the religious right to take sexual orientation out of the legislation. (Eric Miller of Citizens Concerned for the Constitution is distributing flyers to churchgoers calling this bill the Gay Marriages Law, for example) If you want to head off such an effort, you could do a world of good by calling the General Assembly at the following numbers: House Democrats 800-382-9842 House Republicans 800-382-9841 Since they are out of session on Monday, your best bet would be to call legislators TODAY, FRIDAY, or early TUESDAY MORNING. Please pass this message along to people who would also be interested. A few facts: * this bill has passed the House before with us in it, but failed to make it to the Governor's desk * the Governor has expressed his support for the bill's original language, including sexual orientation * the danger is not so much that the bill won't become law, but that we will be taken out of the list of identified groups * this bill is modeled after a Wisconsin state law that survived a constitutional challenge in the US Supreme Court in June, 1993 * a federal version of this bill sailed through Congress last fall and EVERY INDIANA LEGISLATOR VOTED YES (that's right -- even Dan Coats and Danny Burton didn't object to this bill, so why in the world would any state representative be any different ?) * the latest report of the Indiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights indicates that blacks and gays are the two groups most likely to be victims of hate crimes in Indiana * Mark Kruzan, one of Bloomington's representatives, has done an admirable job of defending us (thank-you's are in order) * Bill Crawford of Indy, the chair of the Black Caucus, is the author and sponsor and deserves our thanks for leaving us in the original version in spite of grousing from others * If you want to do more than a phone call, you can lobby them in person at the Statehouse on Friday or early Tuesday morning. * Regardless of whether or not we get to stay in the House version, we should urge legislators (AFTER the vote on Tuesday) to still pass the bill -- we can always try to reintroduce the language in conference committee * for more information, call Justice, Inc., at 1-800-886-GAYS, or Marla Stevens at 1-800-946-4646 (PIN# 1103822) Thanks for making your way through this long-winded message. I hope some of you are able to make your views known and counter the organized religious right. Remember, words of encouragement to friendly legislators (like Kruzan) are just as welcome and helpful as trying to lobby the undecideds or making life difficult for the unalterably opposed. Bob Dion --- RON BUCKMIRE, 11 Colvin Circle, Troy, NY 12180-3735. "See YOU in NYC June 26" vox:(518)-276-8910 fax:(518)-276-6920 buckmr@rpi.edu buckmr@rpitsmts.bitnet 0.5% of the U.S. population owns 48.4% of the assets. 1% owns 61.8% and 10% owns 91.7%. -- Source: Arthur B. Kennickell,_ Demographics & Household Savings_