The Senate Passed the Matthew Shepard Act

[ABoyNamedSue]

After 12 years it finally passes, this is indeed a good day.

 

[gsdx]

I went to the Matthew Shepard Foundation website to see what this was about. This highlighted section is precisely why Canada enacted its hate crime legislation quite some time ago. Hate crimes could no longer be 'swept under the rug'. The authorities must investigate hate crimes.

However, if I read this correctly, the LLEHCPA doesn't necessarily force the authorities to investigate if they don't really want to. Does anyone else read it that way?

I/Legal/Factory/Hate Crimes/one pager for MOC LLEHCPA 1.10.07.
Created: January 10, 2007.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias motivated violence by providing the Department with jurisdiction over crimes of violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

The LLEHCPA provides the Justice Department with the ability to aid state and local jurisdictions either by lending assistance or, where local authorities are unwilling or unable, by taking the lead in investigations and prosecutions of violent crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury that were motivated by bias.

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/DocServer/HRC-LLEHCPA-One-Pager1-23-07.pdf?docID=461

 

[ABoyNamedSue]

It is saying if the local authorities fail to act the Justice department will, I think...

 

[gsdx]

^ So, I was right. The act doesn't necessarily mean that the local authorities must investigate hate crimes. It almost sounds voluntary.

 

[metta]

I'm glad that it has finally passed. It does suprise me how difficult it is to find updated news on this.

McCain is saying that it is an 'abuse of power.'

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/matthew-shepard-act-passed-congress




Your senators about their vote on the Matthew Shepard Act
http://hrc.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/Hate_Crimes_Vote_Results

 

[josher]

It has not "passed."

The Senate has agreed to it as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, which has not passed the Senate yet.

Yesterday a conservative senator added several other amendments to the bill hoping to kill it, which they may.

The ACLU has also expressed reservations about the Hate Crimes amendment's effect on free expression and association.

There is also the question of funding for a jet fighter Obama wants eliminated from the bill. He has said he will veto it, if the funding remains in the bill.

The House has already passed the Hate Crimes bill, and it's possible all this will be solved by the Conference Committee that will be set up to reconcile the two versions (House and Senate.)

It's also possible the Hate Crimes amendment won't make it into the reconciled bill.

 

[relaxin13]

There's an article from The Advocate's website saying it may be vetoed:

"Though the amendment garnered three votes more than necessary to reach cloture, the fate of the hate-crimes measure may now be linked to $1.75 billion in funding for F-22 fighter jets also included in the DOD legislation.

President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both oppose the F-22 program and a White House spokesman said the president will not sign a DOD bill that continues to fund the program.

"The president has long supported the hate-crimes bill and gave his personal commitment to Judy Shepard that we will enact an inclusive bill," said Shin Inouye, referring to Shepard’s Oval Office visit with the president earlier this year. "Unfortunately, the president will have to veto the Defense authorization bill if it includes wasteful spending for additional F-22s. The collective judgment of the service chiefs and secretaries of the military departments is that the current program is sufficient to meet operational requirements. A presidential veto would not indicate any change in President Obama's commitment to seeing the hate-crimes bill enacted." "

It really aggravates me that this type of stuff can be done... putting things that are completely unrelated on the same bill. I know it is done to increase senate approval, but it annoys me to no end when this type of stuff happens.

 

[NYtiger6]

What happened to Mathew was tragic, but I don't recall the Outrage by any of you after the brutal Murder of (Navy Seaman) August Provost. He was a BLACK Gay man who was shot,bound, and set on fire!

Matthew Shepard was so important because his heinous murder started the movement for gay inclusion in the hate crimes bills. The fact that he was white had nothing to do with it.

It's extremely sad that August Provost was also murdered for the same reason, but maybe the fact that he was murdered three weeks ago at a naval base has more to do with the lack of outrage than the fact that he's black. The US military is notorious for trying to cover up incidents like this, so it's no surprise that there was very little press about the issue.

 

[relaxin13]

It's extremely sad that August Provost was also murdered for the same reason, but maybe the fact that he was murdered three weeks ago at a naval base has more to do with the lack of outrage than the fact that he's black. The US military is notorious for trying to cover up incidents like this, so it's no surprise that there was very little press about the issue.

How and why I have not heard of August Provost is just plain sad and disheartening. That is an awful thing that happened, and the fact that barely anyone is talking about it disappoints me.

 

[TickTockMan]

How and why I have not heard of August Provost is just plain sad and disheartening. That is an awful thing that happened, and the fact that barely anyone is talking about it disappoints me.

It did have a thread in CE&P, but didn't last long.

 

[ABoyNamedSue]

It is an outrage, it is on most of the national blogs that I read, but it is beyond me why it hasn't made it onto mainstream national media. They have been talking about it over on towleroad for awhile now.

 

[crzyrazn]

What happened to Mathew was tragic, but I don't recall the Outrage by any of you after the brutal Murder of (Navy Seaman) August Provost. He was a BLACK Gay man who was shot,bound, and set on fire!

Same. I haven't heard one word about this..

It was discussed here: Navy Murder Possible Hate Crime