President Barack Obama will sign a bill this afternoon to make violent acts against gays and lesbians a federal hate crime. The bill cleared the Senate with a 68-29 vote - a victory for civil rights groups that have been seeking to expand federal statute which was limited to religion, race, color, and national origin to include sexual orientation.
The bill includes punishment for attacks based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
As reported by the LA Times, the passage of the bill was praised by Atty. Gen. Eric H Holder Jr., whose Justice Department would be responsible for enforcement of the provisions. Holder said "There have been nearly 80,000 hate-crime reported incidents reported to the FBI since I first testified before Congress in support of a hate-cimes bill 11 years ago."
Recent incidents like the shooting death in June of an African American security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by a white supremacist "demonstrate that there are still those for whom prejudice can translate into violence," Holder continued.
The bill, attached to a $680-billion measure outlining the budget for the Pentagon, was passed in the House October 8, 2009. The legislation gives federal authorities extended power in aiding local and state law enforcement officials in investigating hate crimes, in addition to increasing the federal goverment inervention abilities. About 45 of the 50 states have hate-crime statutes.
For those that voted against the bill, it was a matter of the bill being tied in with a defense issue. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) "It's a shame that this piece of legislation was added to a bill that's supposed to be about supporting our troops."
The defense bill includes $130 billion to go to Iraq and Afghanistan operations, along with a 3.4 percent raise in pay for military. Additionally, it will be a federal crime to attack members of the military because of their service.
Named for Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student beaten to death in 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African American chained to a pick-up and dragged to death in Texas the same year, the bill will be signed by President Obama later today.
Watch the signing live on our sibling site Advocate.com!
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