House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) are voting against the House/Senate fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill — because it contains hate crimes provisions designed to protect gays and lesbians.
Boehner, speaking at his weekly press conference Thursday, said the inclusion of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the defense bill was "an abuse of power" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that sought to punish offenders for what they thought — and not what they did.
He accused the speaker of pursuing her social agenda "on the backs" of the troops.
While adding on select bills to legislation that is being voted on is in no way a new practice, the actions of Boehner and Pence are nothing more than political posturing. But you knew that anyway.
While conservatives are more than willing to use the American military as sticks to beat people with, they have a complete lack of understanding when it comes to hate-crimes. Do people like Boehner and Pence not see that crimes against people sexual orientation are not only wrong but pervasive in this country? Are they willing to ignore the opressed and ridiculed in society in favor of funding a conflict in Afganistan that they understand even less?
Exit question - and since conservatives are so concerned in this area: who's going to pay for Afganistan funding?
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