Throw-away lives

Q: Congress is expected to expand federal hate crimes laws to add "sexual orientation" to a list that already includes "race, color, religion or national origin." Is this necessary? Should there be special laws against crimes motivated by intolerance, bigotry and hatred? Isn't a crime a crime?

One of the most vivid and horrific stories from my childhood was hearing my father describe seeing a black man tied to the bumper of a car, dragged around the town square in Wilmington, N.C. until he was unrecognizable. His blood cried out from the ground, joining with the voices of others--the victims of racially motivated hate crimes--until education and the will of the people through legislation put an end to such blatant atrocities. For some, his was a throw-away life, of no consequence; for my father it was motivation to redeem that precious life through work for civil rights.

This scene that made such an indelible impression on me was replayed again more recently with Matthew Shepard, the young gay man in Wyoming, whose brutalized body was tied to a fence rail by men who hated him for who he was. For them it was a throw-away life, of no consequence. But for some of us, Matthew's blood cried to us from the ground as we support Congress as it decides to expand federal legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as hate-crimes.

What ties these two lives together and why this legislation is urgently needed is that perpetrators of hate crimes have so devalued the personhood of the victims, have rendered them inhuman--throw-aways. Where education, including religious education is insufficient to shape moral character, federal legislation must be the force to stay violence.

I recently heard from a Ph.D. candidate whom I originally admitted to Seminary many years ago. Irene is an African-American woman, a lesbian, and an orphan--which is at least four reasons wrapped up in one person to make her more likely than others to be singled out for a hate crime. Irene was literally thrown away into a dumpster at birth and rescued by Catholic nuns, who raised her. I admitted her to Seminary not because she was a child of God and therefore precious, but because even as a young woman I could discern her potential to become a major theological voice, a leader, from whom we would have powerful lessons to learn.

Ironically or perhaps, fittingly, she is playing the part of Matthew Shepard's mother, Judy, in a production of The Laramie Project.

Jesus spent a lot of time with the throw-aways of his day--with widows and orphans, the poor and despised tax collectors, and people with broken bodies, hearts and minds. In fact he seemed to like them most of all. After all, Jesus himself was the ultimate throw-away life--illegitimate, poor and despised by many, who died on a cross.

Hatred is taught and needs to be unlearned. As long as hate crimes are not named by society, and called out as such, they become normalized. The public is colluding with the notion that some of us belong to categories of people who are throw-aways, of no consequence. In fact, these lives were made in the image of God. There needs to be re-education--we must name the motive of the crime for what it is. As religious leaders and people of faith and Americans we must teach the sacred value of these lives, and while we're at it--all lives.

By Katharine Henderson  |  October 22, 2009; 11:44 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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