Sen. Isakson weighed in on the Matthew Shepard Act to a blogger on the Southern Voice:
Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts regarding "hate crimes" legislation. I appreciate your thoughts and the opportunity to respond to you.
Equality of individuals before the law has always been a bedrock principle of our nation. I oppose discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, or national origin and will support any attempt to vigorously enforce anti-discrimination statutes. As I do not support discrimination under the law, I also do not believe in preference under the law. Therefore, I do not support "hate crime" provisions as I feel they value one person's life over another based on race, ethnicity, religion, or lifestyle. I believe rights are inherent in individuals, not groups. We should work to attain our nation's goal of equal opportunity without quotas or other forms of preferential treatment.
Isakson will most likely vote against hate crimes legislation of almost any type, not just LGBT. Isakson is also up for reelection in 2010, and it will be interesting to see him wrangle his positions over the coming weeks and months.
Everyone should keep an eye on him and see how he acts. We need to mobilize and remove him from office. While Isakson is better than Chambliss, he is still a very conservative senator that should be voted out in favor of a more progressive candidate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment