Senate Dems get hate crime law past Republican homophobes
The Senate voted Thursday to extend new federal protections to people who are victims of violent crime because of their sex or sexual orientation, bringing the measure close to reality after years of fierce debate.
The 68-to-29 vote sends the legislation to President Obama, who has said he supports it.
The measure, attached to an essential military-spending bill, broadens the definition of federal hate crimes to include those committed because of a victim’s gender or gender identity, or sexual orientation. It gives victims the same federal safeguards already afforded to people who are victims of violent crimes because of their race, color, religion or national origin.
“Hate crimes instill fear in those who have no connection to the victim other than a shared characteristic such as race or sexual orientation,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said afterward. “For nearly 150 years, we have responded as a nation to deter and to punish violent denials of civil rights by enacting federal laws to protect the civil rights of all of our citizens.”
Ten Republicans voted for the hate-crimes measure.
A fitting memorial to Matthew Shepard – beaten and murdered by bigots.
Republican unwillingness to pay heed to the safety of all the citizens of this nation is nothing new. It has been decades since Nixon’s Southern Strategy brought disaffected racist Democrats into power in the Republican Party.
From the early 1930′s, Republicans had a better voting record on civil rights than did the Dems. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 wouldn’t have made it through Congress without the participation of Everett Dirksen. There is no Republican in Congress, today, with that commitment to justice and the American people.
