BREAKING: Matthew Shepard Act Passes U.S. Senate

LGBT history was made late last night when U.S. Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Act as an amendment to a defense appropriations bill. This is the most dramatic federal endorsement of LGBT rights in history and the first major achievement made during the Obama administration.

The Senate has approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes protections since the original law was enacted after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The legislation broadens federal reach to protect those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or a disability. Current law is limited to crimes motivated by race, ethnicity or religion. The Senate approved the measure on a voice vote immediately after voting 63-28 to overcome Republican-led opposition to considering the measure an amendment to a defense spending bill. Sixty votes were needed to clear that procedural hurdle. The House in April passed a stand-alone hate crimes bill that is similar to the Senate legislation.

Congratulations are due in particular to Judy Shepard, who has spent the last ten years passionately fighting for this win. Thank you, Judy. Thank you.

UPDATE: Well, you knew there'd be a snag with attaching the bill to DOD funding.

Though the amendment garnered three votes more than necessary to reach cloture, the fate of the hate crimes measure is now partially linked to $1.75 billion in funding for F-22 fighter jets that is 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 spokesperson 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."

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain have offered a bi-partisan amendment to remove the F-22 funding that is scheduled for a vote Monday, but insiders say the count is unclear. If the amendment fails and President Obama vetoes the bill, it will be sent back to the Senate for a rewrite. A Democratic Senate aide said Senator Reid was optimistic, nonetheless, that hate crimes would ultimately make the final version of DOD authorization. “This was a good vote,” said the aide. “Senator Reid is hopeful that we can keep this language in the final bill.”

Progress On Hate Crimes In The Senate?

For the more than a month since the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed in the U.S. House, Ted Kennedy's Senate version of the bill has laid moribund. But today the HRC is telling the Washington Blade that a move is afoot to attach the Senate bill as an amendment to another item, rendering it immune to revision and hopefully ready to move forward.

Trevor Thomas, an HRC spokesperson, told the Blade in a statement Monday that the Senate settled on this method of passage. "We understand that Senate leadership does not believe a hearing or mark up on the bill is necessary and plans to bring it directly to the floor as an amendment to another moving vehicle," he said. the bill passed the House on April 29, 249-175, as a standalone measure. The legislation would allow the U.S. Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes committed against LGBT people that result in death or serious injury.

The Blade reported last month that the Senate was debating whether to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment or as a standalone bill. Thomas said the Senate determined it would pass the legislation as an amendment because the chamber's leaders believes that's "the most efficient way" to send the measure to the president's desk. Jim Manley, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said he couldn't confirm whether the Senate had decided to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment, but he noted that's how the Senate passed the legislation in previous sessions. He deferred to the legislation authors for further comment.

You may recall that the "attach it to another bill" strategy failed on December 7th, 2007, when Senate Democrats stripped the act from the military appropriations bill to which it was attached, rather than approve more funding for the Iraq war. The HRC says they are calling for the Senate to pass the current bill before the end of summer.

Hate Crimes Bill Passes U.S. House!

After hours of contentious debate during which GOP members of the House parroted numerous lies funneled to them by the American Family Association, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HR 1913) passed by a vote of 249-175. Democrats opposing: 17. Republicans in favor: 18.

Yesterday Sen. Ted Kennedy introduced a Senate version of the bill. President Obama has promised to sign the bill when it reaches his desk. That will likely be the first of his many promises to the LGBT community to come to fruition.

Two great victories for movement in one day!

GOP Liars At The Podium

The debate has just ended and the vote is about to commence, but check out Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) calling the murder of Matthew Shepard "a hoax."

Rep. Foxx: "The bill was named after a very unfortunate incident that happened, where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him, the hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's, it's really a hoax, that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

In fact, and as you all probably know, the killers DID conspire to select a gay victim to rob.

While his killers Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson did rob him, they also admitted that they were well aware of his sexual orientation and pretended they were gay to lure him away from the bar he was in at the time. The most striking feature of the case, of course, is that during the course of a normal, simple robbery, the victim is not generally beaten, tied to a post, and left for dead.

Foxx was only one of many Republican liars to take the podium in today's House debate. Barney Frank did a great job tearing down one of them in particular, I'll have that clip ASAP.

TVC: Dishonest Or Dumb?

Many of you greatly enjoyed Rob Tisinai's recent video deconstructing the lies of the Christianist right regarding same-sex marriage. Today Rob rips apart the lies of the Traditional Values Coalition in their campaign against hate crimes laws. Fantastic work.

U.S. House Debating Vote On Hate Crimes

At the moment, wingnut Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is railing against "protected sexual orientations" such as pedophilia. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is literally waving his Bible and quoting scripture. It's a zoo. Watch live here.

Obama: Pass The Hate Crimes Act

Last night President Obama urged Congress to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

"This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action."

Contact your representative to demand their support using this form. Do it now.

(Via - Towleroad)

Action Alert: Fight Hate Now

The Human Rights Campaign is asking the LGBT community to call their representatives in Congress over the next three days and demand their support of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

After more than a decade of lobbying on Capitol Hill and seven successful votes on the bill, this critical piece of legislation is again expected to see a vote in the House this week. The call-in campaign is set for April 27-29. “We've received word that the House will vote on the Matthew Shepard Act very soon and we know that right-wing groups are flooding Congress with calls, emails and sickening ‘fact sheets’ full of lies about the lives of LGBT Americans,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We need more calls to Members of Congress, and we need them right away. It has been ten long years and tens of thousands more victims since the Matthew Shepard Act was first introduced in Congress. We are poised for a presidential signature this year but lies from the radical right could easily derail our efforts. We must not allow them to continue to demagogue and distort the truth.”

It takes about 45 seconds. Members of the community are urged to call 202-224-3121.

Callers are urged to tell the Member’s office:
• Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are on the rise. One out of every six hate crimes is because of the victim's sexual orientation.
• Hate crimes have more than one victim. They are intended to create an atmosphere of fear and terrorize entire communities.
• The Matthew Shepard Act targets only violent acts – not speech. It does not tell any clergy member what he or she can or can't preach.

202-224-3121. For more information, visit Fight Hate Now.