Congress Takes FINAL Vote on Hate Crimes Bill; On to President's Desk

October 22, 2009 5:23PM
Michael Cole

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2009/10/congress-takes-final-vote-on-hate-crimes-bill-on-to-presidents-desk/

love_conquers_hate-LOGOAfter nearly 12 years, a strong hate crimes bill is finally on its way to the President's desk and he's promised to make it law.  Upon his signature, the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will be the first major federal civil rights law protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Today's 64 to 35 cloture vote and this evening's final passage in the Senate marks a truly pivotal moment in our fight for LGBT equality. This last vote EVER on the bill happened because of the dedication of all of the people who contacted their legislators, educated their communities and gave of their time and money.  But no one has worked harder than the families of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., for whom the bill is named.

not exactly ENDA or title VII inclusion, but I have to say...
*about freaking time*

I just saw Katie Couric announce this on the CBS evening news but she only said "lesbians and gays", she failed to mention anything about the "T". Typical. It just happened to be on in the background, I don't usually get my news from Katie Couric lol

It is still early here and nothing on the news yet.  I will be looking at the national evening news later.  I did receive a news bulletin that stated it passed.


Janet

Quote from: FairyGirl on October 22, 2009, 05:41:42 PM
I just saw Katie Couric announce this on the CBS evening news but she only said "lesbians and gays", she failed to mention anything about the "T". Typical. It just happened to be on in the background, I don't usually get my news from Katie Couric lol

To them we're just SUPER ULTRAMEGA GAY... Thats all.

VICTORY: Hate Crimes Bill Passes;
First Federal Bill to Protect Transgender People

http://transequality.org/news.html#hate_pass

(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) In an historic move, the United States Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.

"Transgender people have been waiting so many years for assistance from the federal government in addressing the rampant and disproportional violence that we face," noted Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Today we move one step closer to our goal of ending violence motivated by hatred. Everyone in America deserves to live free of fear and of violence. We know that the dedicated leadership and hard work of Senator Kennedy and Representative Conyers and many other legislators made the passage of this bill possible. Words can't really express our gratitude for their commitment to equality for all people."