Hate-crime law sent to Obama

The U.S. Senate sent a gay- and trans-inclusive hate-crimes law to President Barack Obama on Oct. 23, attached to the 2010 defense-spending bill.

“We look forward to President Obama signing … into law our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence. We now can begin the important steps to erasing hate in our country.”

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Obama plans to sign, will:

* Give the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence where the perpetrator selected the victim because of the person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.


* Provide the Justice Department with the ability to assist state and local jurisdictions or, if necessary, take the lead in investigations and prosecutions of bias-based violent crime that results in death or serious injury.

* Make grants available to state and local jurisdictions to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers and assist in investigations and prosecutions of hate crimes.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey called the measure’s passage “a milestone for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.”

“With his signature, President Obama will usher in a new era … in which hate-motivated violence against (LGBT) people will no longer be tolerated,” she said. “Our country will finally take an unequivocal stand against the bigotry that too often leads to violence against LGBT people, simply for being who they are.”

The late Matthew Shepard’s mother, Judy, said, “Hate crimes continue to affect far too many Americans who are simply trying to live their lives honestly, and they need to know that their government will protect them from violence and provide appropriate justice for victims and their families.”

Judy Shepard and her husband, Dennis, have campaigned for the inclusion of GLBT people in federal hate-crimes law for more than a decade. Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998 in what became the highest-profile anti-gay hate crime in U.S. history.

James Byrd Jr. was a black man who was murdered in Jasper, Tex., in 1998. He was beaten, stripped naked, chained by the ankles to a pickup truck and dragged for three miles.

By Rex Wockner

Share

About Gay Today

Editor of Gay Today