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Hate Crimes Bill Passes House of Representatives; Includes Gender Identity

April 29, 2009 by savvyplanners.com 

“April 29, 2009

Today the United States House of Representatives voted 249 to 175 in favor of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H. R. 1913), moving one step closer to the passage of the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people in a positive way. This bill would add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and would allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government.

“This is a great day for America,” commented Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, “as we make a clear statement that all lives are valuable and that no one deserves to be targeted for violence just because they are transgender. It is vital that we make it absolutely clear that violence motivated by bias is not tolerated in our country, because while this is a victory, the true victory will come when everyone is genuinely free from violence and discrimination. That’s what we are working for.”

Transgender people continue to be disproportionately targeted for bias motivated violence and thirteen states and Washington, DC have laws which include transgender people in state hate crimes laws.

JOIN US IN THANKING LOBBY DAY PARTICIPANTS

Over 200 people participated in activities over the past three days as a part of NCTE’s Lobby Days and Religious Leaders Summit. Please join us in thanking them for braving the heat here in DC to talk with literally hundreds of members of Congress about the need to pass the hate crimes bill and protections against employment discrimination. Their presence at the Capitol on the eve of this vote was so important. Thank you to each and every one of them.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NEXT
Important next steps you can take

• Contact your Senators’ offices and ask for their support for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, which was introduced yesterday by Senator Edward Kennedy.
• If your Representative voted for H.R. 1913, please call or e-mail them today and thank them for their vote. You can find your member of Congress at www.house.gov. Find out how your member of Congress voted by checking our website later today.

WHAT THE BILL SAYS

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would:

Extend existing federal protections to include “gender identity, sexual orientation, gender and disability”
Allow the Justice Department to assist in hate crime investigations at the local level when local law enforcement is unable or unwilling to fully address these crimes
Mandate that the FBI begin tracking hate crimes based on actual or perceived gender identity
Remove limitations that narrowly define hate crimes to violence committed while a person is accessing a federally protected activity, such as voting.
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is supported by nearly 300 civil rights, education, religious, and civic organizations. The bill is also endorsed by virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country-including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and thirty-one state Attorneys General.

For more information:

Read the specifics about this legislation from the Library of Congress, go to their website and search by bill H.R. 1913
View our fact sheet about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act and read additional information about hate crimes on our website

Thank you!

Thank you for taking action on this vital issue as we work together to make our world safer for transgender people.

Mara Keisling,
National Center for Transgender Equality”

Note: Mara is the founding Executive Director of NCTE. A Pennsylvania native, Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government. She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional experience in social marketing and opinion research.

RELATED:  And this from Joe Solmonese of HRC

“We just got the news: the U.S. House has passed the fully inclusive Matthew Shepard Act.

This was not an easy victory. But we WON in the House – thanks in part to the tireless, fearless Judy Shepard, who joined me in critical last-minute meetings on Capitol Hill today.

Now the battle moves to the Senate.

We need every Senator to know we want quick action on the inclusive hate crimes bill. You’ve emailed, you’ve called, you’ve donated – and I thank you deeply – but I hope you understand that this fight is far from over.

President Obama has pledged to sign the bill, but to get it to his desk we’ll need to pass it through the Senate first. And with the lies from right-wing groups ALREADY intensifying – one group went so far as to say the bill makes “pedophiles a protected class” and is “pro-child molester” – it’s not going to be easy.

Send Judy’s powerful video to ten friends and ask them to write to the Senate.

The scare tactics continue. Anti-LGBT groups sent lawmakers a note linking to a poster of Jesus that says “WANTED For Violation of the Proposed Hate Crimes Law In His Teachings.”

Our only defense is the truth: in the ten years since Matthew Shepard’s death, tens of thousands more people have been violently attacked for being who they are. It took ten years of lobbying and educating to get to this point – our long wait for hate crimes protections must end now.

Ten friends of yours can help.  Send the video to ten friends now!”

Joe Solmonese

President, HRC

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