Written by DCist Contributor Fredo Alvarez
In a 60-39 cloture vote, the U.S. Senate barely passed the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (S 1105) today as an amendment to the FY 2008 Defense Authorization Bill (HR 1585). The measure would expand protection against hate crimes to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and would enable the Federal government to provide assistance in the investigation or prosecution of those crimes. All Democrats and Independents voted for the amendment, and were joined by nine Republicans: Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was the only one not to vote on the amendment.
President Bush had threatened to veto the stand-alone bill when it passed the House in May, deeming it unnecessary. In a political gambit, however, the Senate voted to add it to the Department of Defense authorization bill, which would authorize funding for Defense programs, the Army, Air Force, and Navy. Republican opponents decried the move, saying that placing hate crimes legislation threatens troop funding. Proponents reject this argument, saying that this helps the enforcement of hate crimes in the military. The President has never vetoed a Defense Authorization bill, and supporters are betting that he will not want to be the first. He may not have to make that decision, however. The provision will first have to survive a House-Senate conference committee before it reaches the President’s desk.
Hate crimes laws which protect LGBT people are already on the books in Maryland and the District. In Virginia, such protections including the LGBT community are not granted at the state level, but local jurisdictions such as Arlington and Fairfax counties do offer them.
According to the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department, D.C.’s law is among the most far reaching in the U.S. Recently, D.C. has also seen its share of hate crimes against the LGBT community in recent weeks, the most recent being an attack on a Human Rights Campaign employee near Be Bar in Shaw.
Photo by philliefan_99.
