We all remember the tragic story of Matthew Shepard.
In 1998, the 21-year gay old college student was tied to a fence and brutally beaten to death in Wyoming. His story received national attention and inspired a movement for hate crimes legislation based on sexual orientation.
Nearly a decade later, one in six reported hate crimes is related to sexual orientation -- but the president still won't sign the revised hate crimes bill.
Tell President Bush: Matthew Shepard wasn't the only hate crime victim. Thousands of people have their own stories of discrimination.
According to a new Gallup poll, 68 percent of Americans favor expanding our current hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity-based crimes.
But the poll goes even further, reporting that 60% of "Republicans," 57% of "Conservatives" and 64% of those who attend church regularly support the revised hate crimes bill.
That means that by threatening to veto the Matthew Shepard Act, President Bush isn't just ignoring Democrats or the LGBT community -- he's ignoring everyone.
Once again, President Bush is out of step with the American people. Now we have to show him just who he's up against.
How will the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act impact you and your loved ones? Tell us now:
President Bush wants to veto the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. He claims we just don't need it.
Our question to him is the same one Rep. Keith Ellison asked on the floor of the House during debate of the bill:
"Why do you want to protect thugs and hate mongers? Why don't you want to stand with the civilized community and say hate is wrong and we must stop it now?"
Your story, and the story of Matthew Shepard, proves that we need this legislation now.
P.S. - I wanted to let you know about the 2007 DNC Unity Summit. Hosted by the DNC's African American, Asian Pacific Islander American, GLBT, Hispanic, and Women's Caucuses, this gathering will bring together our party's leaders to put us on the right track for the upcoming election cycle. The summit is scheduled for August 23 - 25, 2007, in Las Vegas, Nevada -- we'll be sending you a follow up e-mail on registration and hotel information when registration opens on June 1, 2007.
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Artist Cheryl Turner and Dawn Rosendahl will be among the artist exhibiting at this years "United and Proud" art exhibit. Please join us for the opening reception of ArtsUnited annual visual art exhibit celebrating Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
The 100th couple to register for domestic partnership in Key West took their oaths in front of City Clerk Cheri Smith Thursday morning. "This is a big deal," City Clerk Smith said. "We were so happy when they came through our door this morning. This is a milestone for the entire city." John Darryl Ennis and Ronald Jay Yates officially became domestic partners after having been together as a couple for more than 16 years. They are the 100th couple to register with the city since Key West adopted its Domestic Partnership ordinance in February 1998. The first couple registered that March. Ennis and Yates paid the $50 administrative fee to be officially recognized by city government as a domestic couple. The city's Domestic Partnership Ordinance was created in "to recognize the change in family demographics in the United States and in Key West." It establishes "a procedure that formalizes domestic partnerships, entitling partners to the same or similar benefits of married spouses."
An 18-year-old has been charged with murder in the death of a gay man in US state South Carolina who suffered fatal injuries after being punched in the face outside a bar that was having a "Teen Night."
Investigators believe SeanKennedy, 20, was targeted because of his sexual orientation, the Greenville News reported Friday. Kennedy's friends told authorities he was openly gay.
Attacker of Savannah Gay Man Gets a Three Hundred Dollar Fine
Travis McClain On May 7th, Charles Thomas Prickett was sentenced to a three hundred dollar fine for the brutal beating of Travis McClain, a gay man from Savannah, GA. Prickett received credit for time served for his sentence of one year in jail, even though he did not serve any jail time, and his eighty hours of community service was waived.
Georgia currently does not have hate crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation or gender identity. In both the 2006 and 2007 Georgia legislative sessions, hate crimes legislation was introduced, but the bills did not make it through before the session ended. We need a federal law on the books to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people from hate crimes in states like Georgia. The passage of the Matthew Shepard Act
will provide government an additional tool in the fight against hate-motivated violence.
To Contact Your Senator to tell them to support:Matthew Shepard Act (formerly know as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007), this bill is an appropriate and measured response to the unrelenting and under-addressed problem of violent hate crimes committed against individuals based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.
We also urge you to sign the Erase Hate Petition to help support our efforts in "Replacing Hate with Understanding, Compassion & Acceptance!"
BACKGROUND ON THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT:
The Matthew Shepard Act would strengthen existing federal hate crime laws in three ways:
1) Expand the law to authorize the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute certain bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Current law only includes race, color, religion or national origin.
2) Eliminate a serious limitation on federal involvment under existing law which requires that a victim of a bias-motivated crime was attacked because he/she was engaged in a specified federally-protected activity such as voting, serving on a jury or attending school.
3) Add "gender" and "gender identity" to the Hate Crimes Statistics Act
The United States Navy will discharge Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight less than one month prior to the end of his commitment, reports the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Knight was recalled to duty in 11 months ago and recently completed a tour in Kuwait, where he served as a Hebrew linguist. Knight was repeatedly praised by those who worked alongside and was out of the closet to his commanders and fellow officers.
Navy commanders became aware of Knight's story when he gave an interview to Stars and Stripes. The interview may be read here.
"He's better than the average sailor at his job," Knight's supervisor told Stars and Stripes in an interview published Sunday. "It's not at all a strange situation. As open as he is now, it was under wraps for quite a while. It wasn't an issue at work," added leading petty officer Bill Driver.
WASHINGTON, DC The United States Navy has informed Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight that it intends to fire him under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law just weeks prior to completing his one-year commitment. Knight, an openly gay sailor, was recalled to active duty in June 2006 and recently completed a tour of duty in Kuwait, where he was open about his sexual orientation with his command and fellow sailors. Knight told his story last weekend in the newspaper Stars & Stripes and was notified yesterday that he will be receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy based, in part, on his recent media interviews. Knight was scheduled to end his commitment on May 28, 2007, but will face early dismissal because he chose to go public about his experience.
"Jason Knight was an exemplary sailor who Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defendersy returned to active duty when our country needed him," said Sharra E. Greer, director of law and policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). "Now, despite his dedication and service, and the praise of those he served alongside, the Navy has decided to fire him because he dared to tell his story and put a public face to the courage of lesbian and gay service personnel. Our nation should be embarrassed that our armed forces are forced to respond to Knight's selfless service with a government-sanctioned pink slip. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' silences lesbians and gays and attempts to make them invisible. Because Knight refused invisibility, he will now be fired."
Knight, a trained Hebrew linguist, was re-called to active duty and served with Naval Customs Battalion Romeo in Kuwait. He told Stars & Stripes that, having 'come out' to his command during his previous enlistment, he saw no reason to hide his sexual orientation. Many of his colleagues spoke to the newspaper in support of him. "The Navy tends to keep people who don't want to be
On Thursday May 3, the House of Representatives overcame an intensive propaganda campaign by anti-gay organizations and passed hate crimes legislation that would allow federal law enforcement officials to step in when state or local officials cannot or will not prosecute a violent hate crime. That's the good news. The bad news is that we'll almost certainly have to put up with even more apocalyptic rhetoric from right-wing leaders as the Senate considers the bill.
By: Peter Montgomery
I've watched Religious Right leaders lying about gay people for years. Over and over again, people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Lou Sheldon and others tell their followers that gays are their enemies, out to destroy their churches and their families. But even after years of hearing and reading their manipulative and misleading rhetoric, I still shake my head at the willingness of so many religious leaders -- people who put themselves out there as advocates for Truth -- to be so brazenly and unashamedly dishonest in pursuit of a political goal.
Their immediate agenda here is to derail the hate crimes legislation that would extend federal law to cover violent crimes committed against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The vast majority of Americans supports these protections. In our increasingly diverse society, it makes good sense that we take a strong stand against singling people out for violence because we don't like something about them.
The radical right, however, opposes any legal recognition for LGBT people. And since they can't defeat the bill on its merits - even most ultraconservatives seem to understand that beating up or killing someone for being gay isn't something to be proud of - right-wing groups like the American Family Association and Repent America have decided to haul out their favorite weapon, the charge that equal rights advocates and Democrats in Congress are out to criminalize Christianity.
Say what you want about the Religious Right, they have a flair for the dramatic: images of preachers being dragged from their pulpits for preaching against homosexuality, images of Christians thrown in jail for quoting scripture.
Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition: "...if a pastor stands up in the pulpit and says homosexuality is a sin ... it will be considered hate speech. And if this law passes, the federal government will go after people who say those kinds of things."
Chuck Colson, who should know a thing or two about crime: "But this bill is not about hate. It's not even about crime. It's about outlawing peaceful speech--speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong...If this dangerous law passes, pastors who preach sermons giving the biblical view of homosexuality could be prosecuted...Clearly, the intent of this law is not to prevent crime, but to shut down freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of thought. Its passage would strike at the very heart of our democracy."
James Dobson: "There's a vote coming up on some insidious legislation in the United States Congress that could silence and punish Christians for their moral beliefs," he said on his radio broadcast recently. "That means that as a Christian - if you read the Bible a certain way with regard to morality - you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.' "
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins: "...the only effect [hate crimes legislation] will truly have is to gag people of faith and conviction who disagree with the homosexual agenda."
Vision America's Rick Scarborough: "While the majority of pastors and Christians are clueless as to what this legislation is designed to accomplish, I assure you that homosexual activists are quietly rejoicing over the open season their lawyers and allies are about to enjoy with those of us who are visible in the pro-family movement. Religious freedom would be dealt a deathblow and religious tolerance would become history if this legislation becomes law."
It's especially appalling that the Right has continued to make bogus claims like this because the bill includes a provision explicitly protecting free speech and religious liberty:
"Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."
It's right there in the bill that passed the House. It could not be clearer that this bill has nothing to do with silencing preachers and everything to do with prosecuting violent hate crimes.
Perhaps the American Family Association most clearly reveals what's really going on here under cover of these false claims about religious liberty. The AFA has posted a list they call "sexual orientations" that links homosexuality with pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, prostitution and a list of sexual fetishes clearly designed to make gays seem creepy and scary - and to imply the bill would extend hate crimes coverage to a wide range of kinky sex practices. Bishop Harry Jackson seemingly referred to the AFA list on a C-SPAN debate the day of the vote. Of course, the term "sexual orientation" for purposes of the legislation refers to heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. Nothing to do with animals or dead people. But I suppose the folks at the AFA had a good time putting their list together.
Dobson is trying to get 250,000 signatures on a petition to Congress opposing "legislation that ultimately could strip away the right of Christians to express a biblical view of homosexuality." Here's a way to tell the Senate not to listen to these lies.
MYTH #1 -- HATE CRIMES PROTECTION IS UNNECESSARY: "There are no crimes covered by the hate crimes bill, H.R. 1592, which are not already prosecutable under existing laws," wrote the Family Research Council (FRC) in its May 1 newsletter. Former chief counsel to President Nixon, Chuck Colson, argues, "Some say we need this law to prevent attacks on homosexuals. But we already have laws against assaults on people and property." Despite the right wing's rhetoric, LLEHCPA would give the federal government much-needed new authority to assist states in going after hate crimes in all categories. Under the current federal hate crime law enacted in 1969, the federal government has the authority to investigate and prosecute "attacks based on race, color, national origin and religion and because the victim was attempting to exercise a federally protected right." LLEHCPA would give the federal government the ability to help where women, gay, transgender or disabled Americans are also the victims of bias-motivated crimes. A 2006 Harris Interactive poll found that "64 percent of gays and lesbians are concerned about being the victim of a bias-motivated crime." While the FRC and Colson are right that physical attacks can already be prosecuted, hate crimes are especially pernicious. Eighty-five percent of law enforcement officials believe "bias motivated violence to be more serious than similar crimes not motivated by bias."
MYTH #2 -- LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS DO NOT NEED MORE RESOURCES TO COMBAT HATE: Earlier in the week, the National Review published an editorial arguing, "[T]here is no evidence that local law enforcement has a special need for federal resources to help it combat hate crimes." But as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) notes, "Too many local jurisdictions lack the full resources necessary to prosecute hate crimes. For example, when Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998, the investigation and prosecution of the case cost the community of 28,000 residents about $150,000, forcing the sheriff's department to lay off five deputies in order to save money." The new legislation would allow federal officials to get involved where local law enforcement is unwilling or unable to do so. It would also make grants available to train local law officers to go after hate crimes and help combat violent crimes committed by juveniles. It is endorsed by 31 state attorneys general and leading law enforcement agencies, including the National Sheriffs' Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Additionally, hate crimes continue to be a persistent problem. As HRC president Joe Solmonese notes, "Approximately 25 hate crimes are reported each day in our country. And more simply go unreported. One in six of these crimes is motivated by the victims sexual orientation." According to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups -- such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis -- have increased 40 percent since 2000.
MYTH #3 -- BILL WOULD CRIMINALIZE FREE SPEECH: "There's a vote coming up on some insidious legislation in the United States Congress that could silence and punish Christians for their moral beliefs," said Focus on the Family founder James Dobson on his Tuesday broadcast. "That means that as a Christian -- if you read the Bible a certain way with regard to morality -- you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.'" The Concerned Women for America put out a statement claiming that this legislation is meant to "grant official government recognition to both homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors, and to silence opposition to those behaviors." Colson wrote that "pastors who preach sermons giving the biblical view of homosexuality could be prosecuted." None of these statements are true. LLEHCPA goes after criminal action, like physical assaults, not name-calling or verbal abuse. The bill clearly states that "evidence of expression or associations of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense."
MYTH #4 -- BILL IS OPPOSED BY ALL RELIGIOUS GROUPS: Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition, recently said, "Liberal and homosexual extremists want to silence people of faith whose religious beliefs condemn homosexual behavior. This bill effectively adds a footnoted exception to the First Amendment of the Constitution -- 'none of these protections apply to Christians or other people of faith.'" But the bill before the House today ensures that all Americans are protected against hate crimes. Sheldon and other members of the radical right are in the minority. "According to a new poll conducted by Hart Research, large majorities of every major subgroup of the electorate -- including such traditionally conservative groups as Republican men (56 percent) and evangelical Christians (63 percent) -- express support for strengthening hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity." In mid-April, more than "230 religious leaders representing congregations from every state in the union gathered on Capitol Hill to talk with lawmakers" about hate violence. Additionally, more than 210 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations -- including the Presbyterian Church, Parents Network on Disabilities, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -- support the passage of LLEHCPA.
In New York City, a few months ago, Michael Sandy was killed in an antigay assault where he was beaten, chased into traffic, hit by a car, and then dragged off the road and attacked a second time by his assailants. On March 14th, 2007, twenty-five year old Ryan Skipper was fatally stabbed twenty times and beaten in Polk County Florida in an anti-gay hate crime and robbery.
His body was dumped on the side of the road.
As gruesome and tragic as these stories are, they are but two heart-wrenching examples of thousands of hate crimes that occur all over our country every year. According to the FBI, 25 Americans each day are victims of hate crimes - that means approximately one hate crime is committed every hour. One in six hate crimes are motivated by the victim's sexual orientation.
Every act of violence is tragic and harmful in its consequences, but not all crime is based on hate. A bias-motivated crime affects not only the victim and his or her family but an entire community or category of people. In the most basic terms, hate crimes run counter to everything we believe in and fight for as Americans - freedom, equality, and justice for all.
The current federal hate-crimes law, enacted nearly 40 years ago, covers only bias attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin, and religion. In the case of a hate crime based on gender, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, our government's hands are tied -- it doesn't have the authority to prosecute these violent crimes. It's time to update the law to protect everyone, and this year marks our best chance yet to get it done.
This afternoon the House will vote on The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which has broad public and bipartisan support -- including 73% of the American people and more than 210 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations. The legislation does two things: it updates the law by covering ALL Americans, and it puts crucial federal resources into the hands of local law enforcement.
This legislation has previously passed both houses of Congress in recent years, but was ultimately derailed by Republican leadership bowing to pressure from Republican extremists.
Predictably, anti-gay extremist organizations are at it again. Marking a new low in politics, these groups have embraced the work of a known white supremacist filmmaker, callously invoked the Virginia Tech massacre, blatantly lied about the Congressional record and even used the name and image of Jesus Christ in vain -- all in order to block passage of a bill that does nothing but provide equal protection under the law for every American.
In an action alert to members nationwide, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, incredibly used the memory of the Virginia Tech massacre to rally his troops against the hate crimes bill, stating that its passage would provide "a homosexual would have more federal protection under the law than the 32 victims of last week's massacre."
The Traditional Values Coalition created and disseminated a fake transcript of last week's House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Hate Crimes bill to "prove" that the legislation would punish anti-gay thoughts. The falsified transcript doesn't even remotely resemble the official transcript of the proceeding. They even produced a "wanted poster" in which Jesus Christ, wearing a crown of thorns, is wanted for violating the proposed hate crimes bill. The poster states that Christ is "wanted for revealing the truth about homosexuality in 'The Bible' and encouraging his followers not to offend God by committing such behavior." Is abusing the image of Christ in order to divide and discriminate really the Christian way?
These extremists have nothing to fear. Even after the hate crimes legislation is passed, the religious right will continue to have the federally protected right to preach hatred from the pulpit and disseminate the videos of white supremacists.
But what they should fear is average Americans who have grown tired of the desperate politics of divide and distort. They rejected it in 2006, and they'll reject it again.
Today, when the hate crimes bill comes to a vote, we know that some right wing Republicans will play procedural games to divide the House and derail the bill. House members need to ask themselves -- do their constituents want them to fight for what's right and just, or do they want them to be tools of the most divisive and desperate political groups of our time?
James C. Dobson sent out a message to his followers last night asking a quarter-million Americans to take action against this bill.
That means we need a quarter-million Americans plus one to fight against Dobson and his crew, or simply some principled and courageous members on the house floor tomorrow to stand up and say enough is enough. I vote for the latter.
When my son Matthew was beaten to death because he was gay, it was not the thoughts of the murderers that took him from us -- it was the physical violence fueled by their hate.
As the ultra-right begins a campaign of misinformation and bald-faced lies regarding pending federal hate crimes legislation, I refuse to be silent.
On Thursday, Congress is considering a bill that would expand federal aid to law enforcement officials investigating hate crimes that result in serious physical harm and death.
The Senate version of the legislation carries Matthew's name.
Congressional offices all across Washington are being flooded with phone calls opposing the legislation because political organizations on the ultra-right have been lying to their members, and telling them that this legislation would punish religious people for anti-gay speech -- dubbing this a "thought crimes bill."
One group spreading misinformation to its membership -- the so-called Traditional Values Coalition -- has even gone so far as to put a picture of Jesus on a "wanted" poster, implying that religious people who speak out against homosexuality could become the targets of criminal investigations.
Obviously, that's just not true.
The people spreading this type of propaganda are blatantly lying to their members out of fear that the federal government might finally legislatively recognize that gay Americans exist, and need the same rights and protections the rest of us take for granted.
Even worse, the Traditional Values Coalition is misleading and manipulating its members to make these phone calls to Congress, even when they know in their hearts that they are spreading lies.
This type of behavior has nothing to do with real traditional values.
In mid-April, more than 230 religious leaders representing congregations from every state in the union gathered on Capitol Hill to talk with lawmakers about hate violence that continues to plague this country.
This is what traditional values are all about -- caring for and protecting all people.
This legislation would grant local law enforcement officials federal funds for the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes motivated out of prejudice and hate that result in serious bodily injury and death.
Claims that the bill would punish preaching or other ways of speaking out against homosexuality ring particularly hollow because the legislation was specifically crafted to prevent that.
Two separate provisions make clear that speech unrelated to the violent crime under consideration could not be used to prove a hate crime. This is about violent actions.
As Senator Gordon Smith has said so eloquently, in this life, there is no greater tragedy that can befall a family than losing a child.
But having people play politics with legislation designed to help turn back the tide of violence that took Matthew from us adds insult to the injury in a way that I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Since Matthew's death, while I have continued my own personal grieving, I have met too many other mothers who have lost their children to senseless hate violence.
For all of those parents out there, for my own family, and for Matthew -- I am calling on leaders in Congress to stand up for the truth, and pass this bill on Thursday.
The legislation that is before Congress this week passed the House in 2005 and has been before both the House and the Senate for years.
It is meaningful and thoughtful legislation that has the broad support of leaders from both sides of the aisle and of hundreds of law enforcement officials around the country.
When the bill comes before the House today, some in Republican leadership are threatening to once again play wedge politics by using procedural floor gimmicks to derail the bill.
Let each of us be mindful that the only crime of thought we can commit this week would be to let these divisive politics get in the way of what is right and what is just. It's time for all Americans to be able to live their lives free from hate violence.
Judy Shepard, is the mother of Matthew Shepard and executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
The United States Navy will discharge Petty Officer Second Class Jason Knight less than one month prior to the end of his commitment, reports the 
