Puerto Rico Lawmakers want to remove LGBT protections from Hate Crimes Law

There's some trouble brewing in Puerto Rico:

Puerto Rican lawmakers are poised to vote on a revised penal code this week that includes a provision that would eliminate LGBT-specific protections from the island’s hate crimes law.

The Puerto Rico Senate late last month approved a provision that would eliminate sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity and religious beliefs from the hate crimes statute that was included in the penal code that lawmakers approved in 2004. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the amended penal code this week during an extraordinary legislative session that Gov. Luis Fortuño convened.

Representative Héctor Ferrer and Sen. Eduardo Bhatia joined LGBT and Dominican activists at a press conference on Sunday, Dec. 4, to criticize the proposed amendments. 

"To eliminate these groups as protected categories is to invite the commission of hate crimes in Puerto Rico," said Ferrer, as Vocero reported on Dec. 4 "It is a setback in the country’s public policy."
"In an advanced society, this is dangerous for society," added Bhatia, as Primera Hora reported.

I hope people reconsider. LGBT people needs protection. Come on PR, get it together!

SPLC’s Intelligence Report: Gays Targeted for Hate Crimes Far More Than Any Other Minority in the Country

Not good news to report, y'all.

After SPLC listed their top Anti-Gay groups, they also posted this:

The SPLC’s analysis of 14 years of hate crime data found that homosexuals, or those perceived to be gay, are more than twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as Jews or blacks; more than four times as likely as Muslims; and 14 times as likely as Latinos. The findings are based on FBI hate crime statistics from 1995 to 2008, the period for which there is complete data. The basic pattern also holds true in individual years.

The analysis is being released to coincide with the scheduled release of the FBI’s hate crime statistics for 2009.

These findings come as a wave of anti-gay attacks have washed across the country. In New York, for example, 10 suspects were arrested for brutally torturing three gay victims. And in Covington, Ky., a neighborhood was hit by a series of violent anti-gay attacks. Most dramatically, four teenagers committed suicide in September after being bullied, taunted or outed as homosexuals.

This analysis of hate crime data can be found in the Winter 2010 issue of the Intelligence Report, which also explores how the hard-core anti-gay movement in America is becoming more extreme in the face of gay rights advances.

“As Americans become more accepting of homosexuals, the most extreme elements of the anti-gay movement are digging in their heels and continuing to defame gays and lesbians with falsehoods that grow more incendiary by the day,” said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. “The leaders of this movement may deny it, but it seems clear that their demonization of homosexuals plays a role in fomenting the violence, hatred and bullying we’re seeing.”

Interesting,... This shows that we are truly fighting for our rights. Also, this is bigger than DADT, Dan Choi or GetEQUAL. This is big picture stuff. So hopefully, we are really to continue the fight.