Thursday, October 8, 2009

House Passes the Big Hate Crimes Bill!


Great news, great news!

The House voted Thursday to expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to cover those committed because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Democrats and advocates hailed the vote of 281 to 146, which put the measure on the brink of becoming law, as the culmination of a long push to curb violent expressions of bias such as the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student murdered in 1998.

“Left unchecked crimes of this kind threaten to ruin the very fabric of America,” said Representative Susan Davis, Democrat of California.

The hate-crimes measure was approved as part of a broad $681 billion Pentagon policy measure, a strategy that infuriated House Republicans who accused Democrats of employing a form of legislative blackmail.

This will given to Obama immediately. Hopefully, he sign it by this weekend.

source

4 comments:

Daddy Squeeze Me! said...

SIGN IT PREZZY! SIGN IT!

Ken Riches said...

After the Senate passes it, I am sure President Obama will sign it :o) Great news.

kayman said...

Yeah, it's about time!

constant gina said...

good week in lgbt news...

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.