Hate Crimes Law On the Way to Obama's Desk
Advocacy Work Pays Off as Comprehensive Act Passes Latest Hurdle
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) has gone through a number of rewrites to get to the present state. It is now more comprehensive and includes gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability. Among other things it requires the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to track hate crimes against transgendered individuals.
The Act was renamed to honour two men murdered in 1998, Matthew Shepard and James Byrd (he died in a racially motivated attack in Texas.) In Laramie, Wyoming, Matthew Shepard was left to die, tied to a fence post, after being brutally beaten because he was gay. He died four days later on October 12. Shepard's death is perhaps the most high profile hate crime in the nation and spurred a number of well-known celebrities and political figures to fight for the HCPA to become law. Shepard's parents created a foundation in his honour, The Matthew Shepard Foundation and his mother, Judy Shepard recently released a book titled "The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed".
Matthew's life and death are also remembered in a play known as The Laramie Project, which is part of the reason this hate crime has stayed front and centre for over 10 years. Shepard is not the only gay victim of a hate crime to give up his life. Shepard was murdered in a state that has no hate crime statutes on the books at all, one of only five states that do not address hate crimes. In LGBT History Month, which encourages people to become more educated about gay rights, the following incidents recall why this legislation is deemed necessary by so many.
- Brandon Teena, 21, transgendered, shot to death in Nebraska in 1993
- Billy Jack Gaither, 39, gay, throat slashed, beaten with an axe handle then set on fire in Alabama in 1999
- Gary Matson, 50 and Winfield Mowder, 40, a gay couple, shot in their bed in California in 1999
- Philip Walsted, 24, gay, beaten to death in Arizona in 2002
- Gwen Araujo, 17, transgendered, beaten and strangled to death in California in 2002
- Michael Sandy, 28, gay, hit by a car running from attackers in New York
- Sean Kennedy, 20, gay, punched in the head and died in South Carolina in 2007
- Satendar Singh, 26, gay, punched, slipped into a coma and died in California in 2007
- Ryan Skipper, 25, gay, stabbed 20 times and died in Florida in 2007
- Latiesha Green, 22, transgendered, shot and killed in New York in 2008
- Angie Zapata, 18, transgendered, beaten to death with fire extinguisher in Colorado in 2008
- Larry King, 15, gay, shot to death in school in California in 2008
- Tony Randolph Hunter, 37, gay, died after assault in Washington in 2008
Hate Crime Statistics
The FBI reported a 6% increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2007. Only 1 in 8 victims of a hate crime based on sexual orientation or gender identity actually come forward so these numbers are perhaps much higher.
A poll taken in that same year showed 68% of Americans favoured expanded hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
State Hate Crime Legislation
Currently, at the state level, Colorado is only one of 12 states along with the District of Columbia to have hate crime laws that include transgendered individuals. Allan Andrade, who killed Angie Zapata, became the first person in the country convicted of first degree murder and committing a hate crime involving a transgendered person.
Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming have no hate crime laws at all. Fourteen states do not have any protection in their hate crimes laws based on sexual orientation or gender identity. All others include sexual orientation but forgo protection based on gender identity.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act
The late Senator Ted Kennedy, a long time champion of gay rights, introduced the Matthew Shepard Act in the Senate while John Conyers (D-MI) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the House in early 2009. The HCPA with the Matthew Shepard Act addendum has made its' way through the political system and is now very close to becoming law.
The next step to make this Act law is for the Senate to vote on the final report. A vote is expected to happen in the near future and when the bill makes it to President Obama's desk, he has vowed to sign it.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act to Become Law
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LGBT Protected By Law
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