It means "unencumbered by the thought process." This phrase, coined by the venerable Car Guys, is indubitably applicable to the religious right this week, as they've gone completely apoplectic over the House's consideration of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007. Just take a look at the language that the supposedly mainstream Traditional Values Coalition has resorted to (received in an e-mail last week):
The so-called Hate Crimes bill is very dangerous to your rights and is being heard Tuesday of this week
The Hate Crimes bill, HR 1592, adds "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" "perceived or actual" for special federal protection under the Commerce Clause, is on the fast track and is to be heard in the Crime subcommittee on Tuesday, April 17, voted on Wednesday, April 18 in subcommittee. Then it will probably go to the full Judiciary Committee the next week.
It will be used to establish a legal foundation and framework that will eventually be used to investigate, persecute and prosecute YOU, pastors, business owners and anyone whose actions are based upon the truths found in the Bible concerning homosexuality.
Gender identity is the code word for cross-dressers, drag queens, she-males, transsexuals, etc. who would be given special protection so that they have more rights than you do.
The American Family Association says:
H.R. 1592 dangerously lays groundwork for silencing Christian viewpoint on homosexuality
Did you know your constitutionally guaranteed "First Freedoms" to free speech and religious expression as an American are under attack as never before?
It's true. Thanks to the new and unabashedly pro-homosexual Democrat leadership in Congress, Bible-believing Christians and Jews face an onslaught of bills that will inevitably create federally protected "class status" for homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, "transgender" and "transsexual" persons.
What they aren't telling you is that the law doesn't address speech at all, whatsoever. The law only applies to someone who "willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person."
Also note the first protected class--religion. The law protects the religious right first. The law does not curtail speech. There is no such thing as hate speech in this law, nor should there be. So just as the KKK and the American Nazi Party have been free to rail against blacks and Jews since race was made a protected class in the 1960s, so will the religious right be able to continue preaching their interpretation of the Gospel: