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Senate Passes Hate Crimes Prevention Act

As expected, the U.S. Senate voted yesterday on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and as expected, the majority of the Republican Party chose to side with hypocrisy and divisive politics. The Republican minority hoped to filibuster the bill but were thwarted by a 60-39 super-majority vote, thanks to the tolerance of nine Republican and two independent Senators. An article in today’s The Washington Post reported that Republicans hoped to remove the provision in final negotiations with the House. In the event that effort fails, GOP party leaders will reportedly encourage President Bush to follow through on his threat the veto the bill.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Gordon H. Smith (D-Oregon) are among the most valiant heroes in this effort. Sen. Kennedy likened hate crimes to domestic terrorism, attaching it to funding for President Bush’s war in Iraq. This will make it much more uncomfortable for the President to veto the bill. After months of spin linking war funding to support for the troops, it will be interesting to see if Bush can call upon his college cheerleading skills in any sort of acrobatic move around the pro-military stake that he and his party drove into the ground. Sen. Smith introduced the legislation then stayed the course, keeping crimes of homophobia on his agenda longer than Bush has kept U.S. troops in Iraq. In his comments to the Senate yesterday, Smith said:

“For the last seven years I have entered a hate crime almost every day into the Senate Record. I’ve entered hundreds upon hundreds of individual hate crimes into this record to demonstrate the need for this legislation. Many of these crimes are extremely brutal. Some even result in the death of the victim. I do this to raise awareness. I do it to demonstrate the severity of these attacks and to show the frequency of these violent crimes. I also do it to remember these often nameless victims and to give a human face to these senseless acts of violence.”

The Matthew Shepard Act is not yet law, but the Democratic Party—plus nine fair-minded Republicans—gave the LGBT community pause to celebrate yesterday. In this moment, it is important to remember that it was the brutal death of Matthew Shepard which put a very real, very American face on violence against homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons.

The dedication of Judy and Dennis Shepard deserves much of the credit for raising awareness of hate crimes. Through their work with the Matthew Shepard Foundation, they built support for legislation against hate crimes targeting the LGBT community. Through one mother’s sacrifice, from her personal pain, comes an opportunity for every LGBT American to feel a little bit safer.