This was proposed a few years back as an extentian to the 1969 U.S. federal hate-crime law. It would include gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender citizens so that they, too, would be protected under the law.
It would also...
~ remove the current prerequisite that the victim must be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school...
~ give federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue...
~ provide $10 million in funding for 2008 and 2009 to help State and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes...
~ require the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes on transgender people (statistics for other groups are already tracked).
The bill passed the House of Representatives in May, 2007, and it was the first time that a gay rights bill had been brought to the floor of the House.
The bill passed the Senate in September, 2007. President George W. Bush then indicated he would veto the DoD authorization bill if it reached his desk with the hate crimes legislation attached. As a result, the amendment was dropped because of opposition from anitwar Democrats, conservative groups, and of course, our exalted former president, George W. Bush.
Barack Obama's website says that one of the priority goals for his new administration is passing this new Act.
However, I recently discovered that it is going to take two years to get to it.
Now, I know that our new president is busy. Very busy. But the problem with the whole two years issue is that every six hours, another member of the LGBT community is the victim of a violent hate crime. Keep in mind, this is just violent hate crimes.
Several people have died.
I'm not saying that this new Act will stop the hate crimes. But it will allow us to feel safer, to know that if something happens, the government will be on our side.
I will say that the more I read these newsletters, the less respect I have for Bush's administration. I never thought I could like him less, but I have.
Thanks for Listening,
Brii333
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