Senate Passes Hate Crimes Bill
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 9/27/2007
On September 27, the Senate passed by voice vote a bill that would expand federal hate crimes coverage to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability.
The vote came after a successful vote (60-39) to stop debate and add the amendment to the Department of Defense bill.
"Today's Senate passage of the hate crimes bill is a huge victory for civil rights and the civil rights community," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).
The amendment, The Matthew Shepard Act (or the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act), will expand coverage to include gender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and individuals with disabilities. It also provide grants to state and local communities to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, or to assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias motivated crimes.
FBI statistics for 2006 will be released in coming weeks, but 2005 data shows that hate violence continues to be a problem in the U.S.
The number of hate crimes declined slightly in 2005 (about 7,163, down from 7,649 in 2004), but major cities like New York City, Phoenix and states like Alabama and Mississippi did not report, which likely accounts for lower numbers.
Nearly 14 percent of hate crimes in 2005 were committed against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals.
Civil rights groups say the success is significant because the bill has been kicking around Congress for 10 years. It was nearly passed in the last Congress but was defeated in the Senate.
"For over a decade our community has worked tirelessly to ensure protections to combat violence motivated by hate and today we are the closest we have ever been to seeing that become a reality," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "[T]oday, the U.S. Senate has sent a clear message to every corner of our country that we will no longer turn a blind eye to anti-gay violence in America.
President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, but civil rights groups are urging him not to do it. "The president now has two choices: Either he's a leader who respects the rule of law, extending protections to all Americans or he panders to the extreme elements of his party and vetoes this bipartisan bill," said Henderson.
