Takes On Hate Crimes Legislation Passing The House & Senate
by: Autumn Sandeen
Sat Oct 24, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM EDT
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13720/takes-on-hate-crimes-legislation-passing-the-house-senate "It is outrageous and unacceptable that Senate Republicans would vote against pay raises for our troops, battlefield equipment upgrades and increased funding for veterans' health care as we continue to fight two wars. And they decided to do this all for the sake of stopping passage of landmark legislation that will bring justice to those who commit violent crimes based on bigotry and prejudice. What message does that send to our country and, more importantly, to our troops?"
~Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
The bigotry and prejudice Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid mentions is against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Some of us are servicemembers; some of us are, like me, veterans; some of us are, like me, are actually LGBT disabled veterans. The Republican votes against this bill, when one condiders that there are LGBT veterans and disabled veterans, really was "outrageous and unacceptable."
