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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - October 29, 2009
Senate passes measure that would protect gays
Obama is expected to sign legislation on hate crimes
By Ben Pershing
The Washington Post
The Senate cleared a historic hate crimes bill Thursday
for President Obama's signature, approving new federal
penalties for attacks on gay men and lesbians.
The legislation, which was attached to the conference
report for the bill outlining the Pentagon's budget,
marks the culmination of a years-long fight by civil
rights groups to codify the expanded protections.
The measure would extend the current definition of federal
hate crimes -- which covers attacks motivated by race,
color, religion or national origin -- to include those
based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or
disability. It also would make it a federal crime to
attack U.S. military personnel because of their service.
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The measure was approved, 68 to 29, with a majority of
Republicans voting against it. The House passed the same
bill Oct. 8, also with most Republicans opposed.
Gay rights groups praised the Senate's action.
"We look forward to President Obama signing it into law:
our nation's first major piece of civil rights legislation
for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people," said
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
"Too many in our community have been devastated by hate
violence. We now can begin the important steps to erasing
hate in our country."
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who helped ensure that the
hate crimes measure was added to the defense bill, said:
"I am proud that Congress has come together to show that
violence against members of any group because of who they
are will not be tolerated in this country."
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The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevent-
ion Act is named for Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming
student who was murdered in 1998, and Byrd, a black man
who was dragged to death behind a pickup truck in Texas
in 1998. Shepard's family founded the Matthew Shepard
Foundation, which helped lobby for the measure. Offered
repeatedly by the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.),
the bill had stalled previously in the Senate, and
President George W. Bush vowed to veto it if it reached
his desk.
But Obama said he plans to sign the measure, a key moment
for a president who has been subject to criticism from
some gay and lesbian activists who say he has not pushed
hard enough for their agenda. Obama has vowed to do so,
and said he will repeal the military's "don't ask, don't
tell" policy.
Social conservatives said the hate crimes bill would
violate the First Amendment, and would be a step toward
a larger gay rights agenda they oppose.
"Expanding hate crimes puts America in lock step with the
stated agenda of homosexual activists who will turn next
to the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
followed by the repeal of the ban on homosexuality in the
military and then the Defense of Marriage Act," the Family
Research Council warned on its Web site.
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Religious groups have also complained that the measure
could criminalize the act of criticizing or preaching
against homosexuality, but the bill's backers and the
administration contend that is a misinterpretation of
the legislation.
Separately, congressional Republicans objected to the
process used to move the bill, saying that Democrats
attached the hate crimes language to the defense
authorization measure as a ploy to dare them to vote
against it.
"It's a shame that this piece of legislation was added to
a bill that's supposed to be about supporting our troops,"
said Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.).
The Defense measure outlines a $680 billion budget for the
Pentagon in fiscal 2010, including $130 billion for ongoing
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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