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Spin Cycle |
NEWS ANALYSIS
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Campaign Diary
by Matt Alsdorf
June 22, 2000
Within hours of the Senate's passage of hate crimes legislation on Tuesday, virtually every major gay organization had sent out a press release touting the vote as a success. Most of them included similar factual information on the vote, the bill, and its prospects in the House of Representatives. So why did they end up with so many different interpretations of the same event?
The flurry of hate crimes press releases is instructive because it highlights many of the subtle ways in which various groups can manipulate the same information to make very different points. What it suggests is not that the information put out by such organizations is suspect, but rather that it is crucial to understand their biases when reading or listening to their reactions -- even with something as short as a sound bite.
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Judy Shepard and Sen. Edward
Kennedy at Senate hearings
on hate crimes legislation in 1999. |
First, the facts: By a vote of 57-42, the U.S. Senate passed a measure which would add sexual orientation, gender, and disability to the categories protected by federal hate crimes laws. (The current law, passed in 1968, covers only race, national origin, and religion.) It would also expand the feds' ability to investigate and prosecute all hate crimes. But the legislation has never been voted on by the House, and since it is an amendment to a massive defense
bill, most expect the measure to be deleted in House-Senate conference committee.
Spin #1: The Log Cabin Republicans
Because they hope for the day when Republicans are no longer associated with anti-gay rhetoric, the Log Cabin Republicans went out of their way to emphasize the bipartisan nature of the vote. "This success demonstrates what we can accomplish in a Republican Senate when we all work together," asserted Rich Tafel, the group's executive director. The release went on to laud the bill's Republican co-sponsor, Gordon Smith of Oregon, and call the 57-42 tally a "bipartisan margin."
Well, yes, it was bipartisan in the sense that both Democrats and Republicans voted for the bill and that it couldn't have passed without the support of members from both parties. But on closer inspection, the numbers look a little less "bi" and a lot more "partisan." Voting for the bill were 13 Republicans and 44 Democrats. Against it: 41 Republicans and one Democrat. Not surprisingly, the LCR release didn't provide a breakdown of the vote along party lines.
Spin #2: The Stonewall Democrats
If LCR tried to smooth over the divisions, its Democratic counterpart played the divide for all it was worth. "Today, under the presiding eye of Vice President Al Gore, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) led almost every Democratic Senator and a small group of GOP Senators in [passing the hate crimes bill] over the objection of the Republican majority," read their release.
Again, it's all true, but very heavy on the spin. First, the bill was co-sponsored by Republican Smith, who is mentioned only once in the two-page release. Second, it was not Ted Kennedy, but Smith whose impassioned speech on the Senate floor and op-ed in the Washington Post probably convinced the 13 Republicans to sign on. Speaking specifically about the inclusion of sexual orientation, Smith said, "There is a biblical example and a present duty to protect anyone in the public square who would be stoned by the sanctimonious or politically powerful." Third, "Republican majority" is misleading. It paints an image of a few noble Democrats winning a battle against a much larger throng of evil Republicans. But while the majority of Republicans opposed the measure, the Republican majority as a whole -- which consists of all 54 Republican Senators -- did not. Otherwise, the bill would not have passed at all.
Spin #3: The Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Non-partisan lobbying groups have their biases, too. The HRC and the NGLTF, which had vocally supported the legislation, needed to play up the significance of the bill in order to both show results to their donors and put pressure on the House to consider similar legislation. The NGLTF called the legislation "landmark." The HRC deemed the vote "monumental" and suggested that the passage of the bill in the House would help "to end hate violence in America."
As symbolically important as the victory may have been, it was just that -- symbolic. In terms of things that will tangibly affect the lives of queer Americans, hate crimes legislation is fairly far down on the list. Sure, it is nice to be treated the same as other minorities, but it is unlikely that this legislation alone will actually decrease violent crimes against the GLBT community. Would it give a gay-basher pause to know that he might be prosecuted for assault under federal law instead of state or county law? Probably not.
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