The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passes Wednesday, 29, with a 249 to 175 bipartisan vote. It expands the areas of the word hate crimes to include, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. It also eliminates the requirements of the victim to be engaged in several “federally protected activities” at the time of the crime to be protected. It used to be that people could only be prosecuted if someone was doing some federal activity, like voting. It was introduced in 2002, was finally passed in 2007 in the House, but it was never voted on in the Senate. Bush said he would only vote if it was passed by the Congress.
President Obama said, “I urge members on both sides…to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance…”
My THOUGHTS:
I’m glad they have expanded the rights to include more places where people judge others. Anything that cuts down on hate and discrimination is a great thing. =]
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Hey Katie,
ReplyDeleteGood post. Does the article say anything about Matthew Shepard, who the bill's named after?