It finally PASSED!
Today our most awesome president ever has signed into law the Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Bill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Sh
This is what the Matthew Shepard Act does:
It expands coverage of the already existing Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
And
The bill also:
1. removes the current prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school;
2. gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue;
3. provides $10 million in funding for 2008 and 2009 to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes;
4. requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track statistics on hate crimes against transgender people (statistics for the other groups are already tracked).
The Matthew Shepard Act is the first law in the history of the United States federal government to extend legal protections to transgender persons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Sh
This is what the Matthew Shepard Act does:
It expands coverage of the already existing Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
And
The bill also:
1. removes the current prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school;
2. gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue;
3. provides $10 million in funding for 2008 and 2009 to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes;
4. requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track statistics on hate crimes against transgender people (statistics for the other groups are already tracked).
The Matthew Shepard Act is the first law in the history of the United States federal government to extend legal protections to transgender persons.
A question for you.
Re: A question for you.
If someone is deliberately targeted and beaten/raped/killed solely because they are gay or transgendered then it is considered a hate crime. Just how is when people are beaten/raped/killed because they are women or because of their religion.
This just adds protection of the most hated group of our people (the gays and transgendered) into the protection list.
This is not about free speech. Hate speech is still protected. This is about protecting them and adding additional crime to those who target them solely because of who they are. It fits the absolute definition of what the hate crimes law exists to do.