Thank God For Nuvo

Nuvo's Laura McPhee once again outshines all other State House reporters in her coverage of the madness going on with the religious right's strangle-hold on lawmakers. Speaking of what happened to HB 1459, the hate crimes bill, this past week, McPhee calls Advance America's Eric Miller on the carpet for the disinformation campaign he waged against it to ensure its defeat:

Evangelical lobbyists like Advance America’s Eric Miller are reasonably assured a victory with SJR 7, the amendment to the state Constitution banning same-sex marriage, this legislative session. But Evangelical watchdogs believe another bill working its way through the House of Representatives attacks traditional values and they are using the full force of their political machine in opposition.

“Should homosexuals and cross-dressers get special protection?” Miller asked in an e-mail action alert to thousands of churches and families concerning House Bill 1459, the “hate crimes” legislation.

“This bill establishes a very dangerous precedent because it would create two classes of victims,” Miller warned. “[It] represents an attempt to give special protection to homosexuals and cross-dressers by stating that a crime against them is to be treated with more severity than a crime against a senior citizen, a child or a pregnant mother.”

Though Miller is a lawyer, he seems to have misunderstood HB 1459 at best and misrepresented it to his constituents at worst. The truth is that the legislation is in no way a legal precedent. Over the past 10 years, all but five of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia have passed hate crimes legislation similar to the one being debated this year in the Indiana Legislature.

Additionally, Miller failed to inform the recipients of his e-mail that Indiana law already has multiple classes of victims — including more severe punishments for those who commit crimes against children, the elderly, the mentally handicapped, pregnant women and law enforcement officers.

Another inflammatory aspect of Miller’s call to arms against HB 1459 was the deliberate omission of the true scope of the legislation. His e-mail did not mention that the bill was written by one of the most venerated African-American members of the Indiana House of Representatives, nor did he mention that the legislation defines a hate crime as one committed against someone on the basis of their skin color, race, religion, national origin, creed, disability, sex AND sexual orientation and gender identity.

“It is wrong for the government to mandate special rights for the homosexual lifestyle — a lifestyle that many consider immoral,” Eric Miller contends.

He did, however, warn of the potential, and entirely fictitious, possibility of a threat the hate crimes bill poses to thousands of churches and tens and thousands of Christians across the state.

“This bill represents a step in the wrong direction with regard to free speech,” he warned. “Will the next step be to prohibit speech that someone views as hateful? For example, will legislation be introduced to prohibit pastors from speaking out against the homosexual lifestyle from the pulpit? Call or e-mail your representative and ask them to vote no on House Bill 1459.”

Apparently, Miller’s pleas were heard. The Statehouse was reportedly flooded with calls and e-mails from concerned Evangelicals who had received Miller’s message and registered their opposition to the hate crimes bill.

At the end of the week, Republican state Rep. Jackie Walorski she pushed through an amendment to the bill that included language that would make a crime against an unborn fetus a hate crime. Once Walorski’s amendment was added, the measure failed to garner enough support from the remaining House members for passage.

If only other State House reporters put these issues and the religious right bigots into their proper perspective the way McPhee does every week in her coverage of the General Assembly, guys like Eric Miller and Micah Clark would become irrelevant to the legislative process as they should. By ignoring them, the mainstream media is empowering them beyond their worthiness.

I was thinking the other day about the fact that many lobbyists belong to the Governmental Affairs Society of Indiana, which is supposed to help elevate the esteem of the lobbying community. If GASI made any effort to police its own, it should publicly reprimand lobbyists like Eric Miller and Micah Clark who intentionally spread false information to the public about legislation before the legislature. Of course, if the mainstream State House reporters were doing their job, it wouldn't be necessary for GASI or anyone else to step into the ring. The truth would take care of the problem.