Federal hate crimes protections for LGBTs is on its way to Obama’s desk. The Senate just approved the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act in a 68-29. Now it’s in the president’s hands.
BREAKING: Congress OKs Matthew Shepard Act
More in Politics*
Thirsty for more?
Subscribe to our newsletter to indulge in daily entertainment news, cultural trends, and visual delights.
Sam
Never thought this day would come where both the House and the Senate have passed the hate crimes bill and we have a president who is going to sign it. My faith in the democratic party has been restored.
Hurry, Mr. President. Hurry and sign it so I can believe you again when you say that you do support LGBT people and their right. Not that I didn’t ever doubt you because you do have alot on your table right now.
Cinci Chris
This is such great news and will do so much to get the ball rolling when it comes to additional legislation for full LGBTQ equality.
Jeff K.
About time.
DeAnimator
Fingers crossed. Hope he doesn’t fuck it up.
Mike L.
Lol deanimator.
OMG this is so exciting, but it’s troubling to see how stow the whole process is, I’m just hoping that DADT, DOMA, ENDA, UAFA and Reuniting Families Act get done before Reps get more power in the future, It’s like all this stuff has to happen ASAP before next year’s elections, omg.
I hope that health reform is done w the public option so Dems wont look as weak (even with a damn majority!) as is usually the case (Damn it Sen Reid get that Public Option done or I aint voting 4 u next year!!!).
DelphKC
Awesome, slow but steady! :^)
PopSnap
For once, thanks Mr. Obama and Democrats. Finally, results; now I feel no qualms for saying how much I truly believed that these next few years will be the ones in which we finally obtain equality.
Mark D. Snyder QueerToday
I have reservations about this legislation. First, it was attached to military/war spending. Second, it could benefit the prison industrial complex. Third, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project notes that often times hate crimes laws can be used against/within our own communities. I have been the victim of violence and know others who have, and I also have a father in prison. I
m conflicted about this bill to say the least.
WinDixie
!!!THANK YOU HRC!!!
Without the HRC this never would have been possible!! Thank you for your dedication, hard work, constant push against a system stacked against the GLBT. This is a great day for everyone!!!
Now lets go after DADT and DOMA!!
Kdogg
Yes!! HUGE VICTORY TODAY.
Definitely couldn’t have been possible without HRC. Our community has suffered so much at the expense of hate crimes. This legislation will allow for fair investigations, better sentences, etc. GREAT DAY!!!
GO GLBT!!
HotTrannyMess
!!INCLUSIVE HATE CRIME LEGISLATION!!
Thanks to everyone who has put time into this fight. I hate to agree but yes even a thanks to HRC. Thanks to democrats… who knew they were still on our side, and although a month seems like a long time…. I hope to be saying thanks to Obama after he signs this legislation into law.
Lady Ga-Gasp
As I said before, all you haters can thank HRC now.
Mark
Finally! Our country’s civil rights legislation for Gay citizen’s lags nearly every developed country. Embarrassing.
The Gay Numbers
Next up- ENDA!
bystander
Completely pointless legislation which will have NO practical benefits for anyone….. except democrats seeking re-election
rudy
It will mean a lot to the families of victims who live in states where gay lives are not respected.
http://blog.mattalgren.com/2009/07/sean-kennedys-murderer-released-early-serves-less-than-two-years/
JoeB
Great, but posts 9, 10, 11 are all written by the same person. So what will HRC ‘work on’ for the next 20 years?
Joey
@JoeB: They gon’ work on yo fat mama.
tjr101
Ok… now onto the next issue you HYPOCRITES can bash Obama on!
josh
@bystander– this was the easiest of the gay rights laws to get and it was very hard for them to pass it through. It is important because it is the first federal law giving protections based on sexual orientation.
It will make it easier to argue for more federal rights and protections.
Remember, Justice Scalia thought striking down the consensual sodomy laws would ultimately lead to gay marriage.
This hate crime law will help judges view gays as a suspect class deserving full rights and protections.
Kropotkin
You guys know that there is more than one national lobbying organization working on this than the HRC, right guys?
StopHRC.com
Seriously? The only thing you guys can cheer HRC on in 20 years is attaching a gay rights bill to military spending that is funding more Reagan era bombers for Pakistan and more war in Afghanistan? Maybe if they had endorsed the progressive challengers of Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman we could actually cheer for HRC.
Sapphocrat
@tjr101: You make it sound as if Obama pulled this legislation out of his ass. We’ve been waiting for action on this since it was first introduced in 1997. When Obama signs it (and he will) it will be no more and no less than what he _should_ do. Sorry, but no extra brownie points for Barry on this one; he hasn’t had to lift a finger, except to sign the thing.
And as for the sockpuppet with exclamation-point OCD, it’s like Kropotkin said: HRC didn’t dream up this law and get it passed singlehandedly.
And some people wonder why those of us who have been on the ground for the past 30+ years — but can’t afford $250-a-fucking-plate dinners — are so pissed off.
rudy
No. 23 · Sapphocrat
So, who did the lobbying/writing on this?
jason
This hate crimes legislation is way overdue. Thank you to the Congress – predominantly Democratic – for passing it.
Homophobes don’t just hate gay people, they hate the very concept of homosexuality. It’s important to understand this. Their victims are often people whom they conceptualize as being “gay”.
David Ezell
I think this is a well intended but confusing “victory” for sexual minorities.
The reason is that the federal government gay/bi/trans and otherwise identified people’s biggest enemies. DOMA, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the suppression of marriage rights are all federal issues.
If the feds are going to investigate the root cause of sexual minority violence and the long-standing homophobia, they need to start with themselves.
The side effect of prejudice is prejudicial behavior.
The Gay Numbers
The practical effect (which is a talking point from Dan Savage) is that it will allow for prosecution of crimes in places where such prosecutions is right now being avoided by local authorities. Yes, this still happens.
The other practical effect for the non-lawyers is that it begins to establish a federal standard that defines GLBTs as a class subject to a protected status class like race, religion and ethnic background. It makes legal arguments in the courts easier. Not necessarily slam dunk. But easier.
In those two ways, they are early civil rights movement progressives that can be the precursor to more. They are not enough. They are not what President Obama can hang his hat on claiming he’s a fierce advocate. But the pretense that they are noting makes the people claiming that seem out of touch with reality just as much as anyone claims this makes President Obama now great and wonderful. Both are inaccurate reflections of the truth.
The Gay Numbers
David’s statement is an example, by the way, of what I mean. David,f or the record, all those things you mention would first require considering gays a class that is subject to laws that need to protect them as a class. This is something that is not presently in federal laws. I challenge you to find any such law finding us a protected class. Thus, the value of hate crimes to the other laws is that it is a foot in the door. That “hey, if we are protected here, why not with jobs, housing, marriage?” That’s the big picture: class status as protected.
Sapphocrat
@rudy: Are you serious? Or just quizzing me?
Have you forgotten the lady whose son the Act is named for? Without Judy Shepard, it never would have gotten this far — not to mention scores of organizations from PFLAG to the ADL who’ve been pushing this for as long as I can remember.
And The Task Force has been _killing_ themselves to get HC legislation since the early 1980s.
Lost in all this are the individuals whose names we’ll never know, who have been writing and calling their reps since day one — not because we’re paid lobbyists, but because it was the right thing to do.
Certainly, HRC deserves credit — but not all the credit.
Some apologists around here act as if we couldn’t wipe our own asses without the HRC showing us how it’s done, while others make believe that Barack Obama woke up this morning, waved a magic wand, and *poof!* suddenly we have a hate-crimes law.
reason
@sapphocrat
To say that Obama had nothing to do with it is misguided, if he didn’t why has 20 years elapsed since passage? The president is a supporter of the bill, and his revolution in 2008 brought in a wave of democratic congresspeople that is enabling the passage of the hate crimes bill, health care, and all of the things that congress is going to get done. Obama worked hard and spent heavily at the top of the ticket, campaigning everywhere, even in hard to win states he couldn’t carry in order to boost turn out to help everyone down the ticket get elected.
B
REASON wrote, “Obama worked hard and spent heavily at the top of the ticket, campaigning everywhere, even in hard to win states he couldn’t carry in order to boost turn out to help everyone down the ticket get elected.” … which is why it is critical to get legislation that the Republicans would normally block passed. The best way for the Democrats to keep control of the House and Senate is for them to make as many positive changes as possible – things that will benefit all of us, not just the wealthiest 0.1%.
Sapphocrat
@reason: When did I ever say “Obama had nothing to do with it”? I said signing the Matt Shepard Act is neither more nor less than what he _should_ do. He doesn’t get extra brownie points for signing a bill that has been coming down the pike for a long time, and your precious Barry knows he’d fuck himself if he _failed_ to sign it.
If you think Obama spent any capital to get this done, _you_ are the one mistaken.
As for the turnover of Congress from Repuke to Dem: After eight years of Bush, a fucking houseplant could have gotten elected to Congress — or to the White House — as long as it had a D after its name.
Now, stop spinning before you get even dizzier.
P.S. You can’t count.
P.P.S. Last year was your first election, wasn’t it?
reason
No you are the one mistaken, this man did not pop out of the womb and land in the oval office: Obama has a record that spans back to Illinois where he was a state senator. As a freshman legislator in Illinois he cosponsored EDNA legislation and was the chief cosponsor for three consecutive years lobbying his colleagues relentlessly. He lead the coalition to pass the Illinois Gender Violence Act and fought unsuccessful to to have it explicitly state that it covers LGBT. Before and during his run for U.S. Senate he publicly campaigned against DOMA. As a U.S. senator he voted against a constitutional amendment, and for a LGBT Hate Crimes bill… the list goes on. So for you to say he hasn’t had to lift a finger is malicious and an attempt to rewrite history. No he didn’t wave a magic wand and Hate Crimes appeared he fought in the trenches as a legislator to help get it to this point, then worked his fingers to the bone to get a democrat super majority, accented to the “throne” and is going to sign a bill that’s evaded several presidents before him.
The congress did not turnover from republican to democrat after Bush they already had control of both chambers. The 50 state strategy that was first employed by Howard Dean and perfected by BHO enabled their 2008 gains. Looking back at someones accomplishments, it is simple to say oh that was easy but it certainly was not. So take your personal attacks and apply them to yourself.
My first election? certainly not. Bush Jr’s. Reelection was my first election and the same year I was old enough to vote, but I was in-tune with politics way before then beyond just the federal level and issues well beyond just civil rights.
If I couldn’t count, lol, I would not have a chemistry degree.
reason
The previous post is addressing Sapphocrat