COLOMBIA – South Carolina lawmakers added sexual orientation and gender to the list of characteristics that would be protected by a hate crime bill proposed on March 16, after facing the reaction for its decision to remove them within a few days before.
But the SC House Judiciary Committee also voted to limit the bill to violent crimes, removing sections that would also increase penalties for harassment, harassment or vandalism if victims were targeted due to certain personal characteristics.
Ultimately, the panel voted 23-0 to pass the legislation, preparing it for plenary debate soon. They also decided to name the project after the late state senator Clementa Pinckney, who was one of nine victims in the 2015 shooting against Mother Emanuel AME.
South Carolina is one of only three states with no hate crime laws in the books, along with Wyoming and Arkansas. Prominent business groups, including the SC Chamber of Commerce, supported the project this year, saying the lack of such a law could reflect negatively on the state’s values.
A subcommittee removed sexual orientation and gender from the list of protected classes on March 11. The other protected features are race, color, religion, sex, nationality and physical or mental disability.
House Judiciary President Chris Murphy, R-North Charleston, explained at the time that they did so to ensure that the bill, H.3620, could pass the Republican-dominated House before the April deadline for it to go. considered by the Senate.
But advocates for equality immediately expressed outrage at the measure, saying that lawmakers were playing politics with the lives of gays, lesbians, transgenders and queers in South Carolina. This response prompted the entire committee to reverse the course, inserting this language of back in the bill.
State Representative Beth Bernstein’s amendment, D-Columbia, also clarified that hate crimes against people because of their “sex” may include sexual orientation and gender identity, in accordance with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that she said it “would remove any ambiguity.”
State Representative Jeff Johnson, R-Conway, then proposed another amendment to remove harassment, harassment and vandalism from the list of crimes that would be subject to higher penalties, describing the change as a “compromise” between lawmakers who want a broader bill and those who do not think that any hate crime legislation is necessary.
That proposal drew screams from some of the same Democrats who just applauded the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender, including Bernstein, who said the change “takes a lot of meat out of it”.
For example, Bernstein noted that the move would mean painting a swastika in a synagogue or racial epithets in a black church would not be considered hate crimes.
“This is a horrible direction to take,” said state deputy Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg. “We need to pass a hate crime bill, but it shouldn’t be that difficult. It shouldn’t be that political.”
But state deputy Weston Newton, R-Beaufort, responded by saying that lawmakers could continue to debate further changes to the bill in the House floor.
“This is a process,” said Newton. “I believe (in the account) and I think it needs to move forward, but making sausage is not beautiful.”
After the meeting, Bernstein said he was frustrated that the committee had weakened the project shortly after strengthening it. But she and state deputy Wendell Gilliard, the primary sponsor of the hate crime bill, said they hoped that the other types of crimes would be included in the bill later.
“You have to be optimistic,” said Gilliard, D-Charleston. “At the end of the day, I think everything will be intact and we will do the right thing.”
The bill only increases penalties for people who have already been convicted of an underlying crime. If someone was convicted of a violent crime, for example, their punishment could be increased by up to another five years in prison or $ 10,000 in fines if a judge determines that they targeted the victim due to a personal trait.
Follow Jamie Lovegrove on Twitter @jslovegrove.