Gay activists commonly report such occasions to federal authorities as "hate crimes" against themselves, to be tallied under the Federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990. Incidents like these give us reason to believe the rights of thousands of non-gay American citizens, now protected under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech, as well as other basic rights, will eventually be jeopardized by special gay advantage legislation.

When simply speaking the truth about matters of public record or sharing conscientious convictions becomes a crime, what will become of the rights of many who reasonably and openly oppose gay extremist behavior?

Under special gay advantage legislation, might a Christian minister or Sunday School teacher publicly calling homosexuality a sin be prosecuted for verbal abuse and felony harassment? Might a day care center owner who declined to offer a care-giver's position to an avowed homosexual AIDS sufferer be prosecuted for felony harassment?

Might an elderly lady of delicate sensibilities be prosecuted for ethnic discrimination if she refused, conscientiously, to rent a room in her small boarding house to practicing homosexuals? Might a church face criminal prosecution and the threat of loss of its tax exemption if it refused employment to a practicing homosexual? The State of Hawaii recently passed S.B. No. 1811, legislation giving protected class status to "sexual orientation." In answer to an inquiry regarding the bill's effects on church hiring, Attorney General Warren Price wrote: " . . . Non-sectarian employees of the church, church-sponsored activities or programs are not exempt. This would include secretaries, janitors, gardeners, teachers, etc." [emphasis added]

"Conservative Presbyterians failed to gain exemption from a gay rights provision in New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws [to which "sexual orientation" has recently been added]. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from the state presbytery of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for an injunction barring the state from enforcing [a] gay and lesbian civil rights provision against it. The OPC had argued that its First Amendment freedom would be violated if it were forced to hire or retain homosexual employees" (PCA Bulletin Supplement, April, 1993).

How would provisions in such legislation protect religious individuals and organizations who publicly oppose homosexual extremism from gay activist harassment? (Writings by gay activists, such as Teal's The Gay Militants, Jay and Young's Out of the Closets and Tobin and Wicker's The Gay Crusaders, also often express the conviction that all organized religions should be condemned for aiding in the so- called "genocide" of homosexuals (op. cit., Gay Is Not Good). Might they be familiar with the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality's study entitled "What Causes Homosexuality and Can It Be Cured?" (ISIS, 1984), which concluded that children raised in non-religious homes have a 450% greater chance of practicing homosexual behavior?)

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