Obama Signs Landmark Hate Crime Bill

President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act Wednesday afternoon, adding the categories of disability, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation to existing protections for bias crimes based on color, national origin, race and religion.

“We appreciate everyone who worked so hard on this bill,” said Stella Byrd, mother of James Byrd.  “My son was taken at such an early age and we hope this law will help prevent other families from going through what we experienced.  Even though we’re different colors and different sexual orientations or gender identities, God made us all and he loves us all.”

The bill was introduced in the Senate on April 28, 2009 by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), among others.  On Oct. 8,  the House of Representatives voted 281-146 in favor of a joint House-Senate “conference report” on a defense authorization measure that included provisions that would expand the definition of federal hate crimes to cover attacks based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and military service. The Senate then passed the bill late last week with a decisive 68-29 vote.

The new law gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated 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. 

“This law honors our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short because of hate,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “Today’s signing of the first major piece of civil rights legislation to protect LGBT Americans represents a historic milestone in the inevitable march towards equality.”

 The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act honors the memory of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student brutally murdered in an act of hate violence in 1998, and James Byrd, an African-American man who was savagely dragged to death in Jasper, Texas, in 1998.