Hate crimes prosecution in Philadelphia.

During October 7 negotiations to reconcile House and Senate versions of the 2005 defense authorization bill, negotiators for the GOP-led House succeeded in removing an amendment that would have added "sexual orientation" to the categories protected under federal "hate crime" statutes. The measure, cosponsored by Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon and Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, would also have "eliminated restrictions limiting hate-crime prosecutions to cases where the victims were engaged in federally protected activities, such as voting," observed the October 8 Boston Globe.

Describing removal of the amendment as "reprehensible," Senator Kennedy vowed: "We will be back again and again, and we will continue to bring this legislation up until it is signed into law."

An incident that occurred in Philadelphia just a few days later foreshadows the "justice" Kennedy and his comrades seek to impose on our nation. On October 10, a group of 11 Christian activists, ranging in age from 17 to 72, were arrested during the city's "Outfest"--a pro-homosexual event staged to celebrate "National Coming Out Day." Led by a controversial evangelist named Michael Marcavage, founder of "Repent America," the group arrived at the event carrying protest signs, Bibles, and hymn books. As they conducted their evangelism, they were confronted by a militant homosexual group calling itself the "Pink Angels."

According to an account published by Agape Press (a Christian news service), the homosexual radicals harassed the Christian activists, "screaming obscenities, hooting and whistling to drown out their message. Some of the Pink Angels carried large signs alongside the Christians to block their message and prevent them from speaking with other Outfest attendees." (These incidents were captured on videotape.) In short order, the Philadelphia Police Department's Civil Affairs Unit ordered that the Christians be arrested and taken into custody.

Marcavage and his associates were charged with a variety of offenses, including "ethnic intimidation"--a second-degree felony "hate crime"--"criminal conspiracy," and "possession of instruments of crime" (which would apparently refer to the Bibles and protest signs). Pennsylvania's "ethnic intimidation" law includes "sexual orientation" as a specially protected category.