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October 17, 2006

Gays exaggerating "hate crimes"?

From a AFA Penn press release:
(Harrisburg) - Today the FBI released its 2005 Hate Crimes Statistics again proving that homosexual activists are using their political power to exaggerate the extent of hate crimes committed against homosexuals, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) said. Once again racial bias topped the list of hate crimes committed against individuals -- 54.7% up from 52.9 % in 2004 and 51.4% in 2003.

"Homosexuals have been pulling the victim card for the past several years and the statistics do not prove their assertions. The AFA of PA believes that all Americans should be given equal protection under the law and that all crimes should be punished equally - special classes of people provide unequal protection. As the hate crime laws stand now, a crime against a homosexual male is viewed as being a worse crime than a crime against an 87-year-old grandmother or a 7-year-old girl," noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA, a statewide traditional values group.

As outlined in the FBI 2005 Hate Crimes Statistics the hate crimes against homosexuals have gradually declined between 2003 to 2005 - from 16.6 % in 2003 to 14.2% in 2005. Putting this into perspective one must note that involves a total of 7,163 criminal incidents based on bias in 2005 and 7,489 bias-motivated incidents in 2003. The FBI defines these crimes as toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability.

Again, as in the past, intimidation makes up the larger portion of hate crimes - accounting for 48.9%. This is a continuing decrease from 49.7% in 2003.

In Pennsylvania the FBI reports 118 hate crimes. Those included 60 based on race, 36 on religious bias, 13 on sexual orientation, 8 on ethnicity and 1 on disability. This is out of a population of 11,564,862.

"These statistics are not exposing the greater danger to homosexuals - same-sex domestic violence. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, in 2002 there were 4,434 reported incidences of same-sex domestic violence and in 2003 there were 5,374 reported incidences. So . . . are homosexuals in greater danger from so-called homophobia or from their own partners?" questioned Gramley.

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