Senate passes “landmark” bill that would make it a federal hate crime to assault a person because of his or her sexual orientation.
CNN is reporting this afternoon that the U.S. Senate, by a wide margin, has passed the Matthew Shepard bill, expanding the federal hate crimes law to include attacks on people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
President Obama has pledged to sign the law which former President George W. Bush had threatened to veto. The bill passed the Senate by a 68-29 vote.
Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming college student for whom the bill is named, died eleven years ago this month after he was kidnapped and severely beaten by two men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney. In a crime that shocked the nation, Shepard was savagely assaulted before being left to die, tied to a fence, in a remote area outside of Laramie. Henderson pled guilty and testified against McKinney who was found guilty of felony murder. The girlfriends of the two assailants testified that the two men planned, in advance, to rob a gay man.
The new bill expands the 1969 federal hate crimes law that, in addition to giving federal authorities greater latitude to pursue hate crime investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue, will also require the FBI to gather statistics on hate crimes against transgender people.
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