House Expands Hate Crimes Law To Protect Gay Victims

[WSJ_law_blog]

Congress appears on the verge of some major law making, as the House yesterday passed legislation that would make it a crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation.

Civil rights groups have attempted for more than a decade to expand hate-crimes legislation, which protects people victimized on the basis of race, national origin and religion, to include gays, but Republicans, including from George W. Bush, have opposed the expansion.

Thursday’s House measure, which also extends protection to victims of gender-based attacks, was attached to a must-pass defense appropriation bill. The Senate could approve the legislation as early as next week.

Here’s an AP story on the House vote and one from WashPost.

House speak Nancy Pelosi noted that the hate-crimes measure comes on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student whose name is attached to the legislation. . “No American should ever have to suffer persecution or violence because of who they are,” she said.

Critics argued that pastors expressing beliefs about homosexuality could be prosecuted if their sermons were connected to later acts of violence against gays, according to the AP account.

“The inclusion of ‘thought crimes’ legislation in what is otherwise a bipartisan bill for troop funding is an absolute disgrace,” said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, according to WaPo, called the measure “radical social policy.”

Here’s a link to the FBI’s hate crimes page, which includes hate-crime stats dating to the mid-1990’s.