House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) objects to H.R.1913 (Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009) that seeks to make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of sexual orientation:
He rationalised it thus to CBS News:
In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics."
It should be noted that the current law does not include gender, though the expanded legislation would cover gender as well as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
That's right. According to Boehner, sexual orientation is not an "immutable characteristic", religion is.
This comes shortly on the heels of this violent, near-fatal hate crime against a gay man in New York captured on video.
WARNING: VERY DISTURBING.