Hate Crime lesgilation (FINA:LLY) passes the house

NoH8

Woooooooooooohooooooooooooo-- I think I'll play 249-175 next time I do the lottery :

House OKs wider hate-crimes bill

WASHINGTON - Gay victims of violence would gain new federal protections under a revived and expanded hate-crimes bill passed by the House yesterday over conservatives' objections.

It defines hate crimes as those motivated by prejudice and based on someone's race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

The bill, passed 249-175, could provide a financial bonanza to state and local authorities, with grants for investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. The federal government could prosecute if states requested it or declined to exercise their authority.

A weaker bill died two years ago under a veto threat from President George W. Bush. President Obama, in contrast, urged support for the measure and called for its passage in the Senate. - AP

This was passed even after one of the most insensitive comments I've ever heard from a house member. I cannot believe the callousness saying this in with Matthew Shepard's mother sitting in the audience. She reminds me of holocaust deniers. Rewriting history is not an attractive quality in someone representing the public, IMHO.

NC Rep. Foxx calls hate crime murder case a 'hoax'

47 minutes ago

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina congresswoman says she made a poor choice of words when she called the infamous murder of a gay Wyoming student a "hoax" to justify passing hate crimes bills.

In a House debate, Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx said the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard wasn't a hate crime and shouldn't be used to justify a hate crimes bill. Foxx said Shepard was killed during a robbery.

The bill approved Wednesday by the House would include acts motivated by sexual orientation under a federal hate crimes law.

Foxx later said her comments didn't convey what she meant to say.

She said "hoax" was "a poor choice of words," and said Shepard's killers deserved their punishment. The two men convicted in Shepard's death are serving life terms for murder.

crazy4carrots

FINALLY -- is right!

I just read an article in the Globe & Mail today about a Chinese student in a small town north of Toronto who was constantly bullied and called an "F-ing Chinese" by a fellow student.  An expert in karate, he finally whacked the bully with his left (weaker) hand and broke his nose.  Then he was charged with assault.  All 400 students in the high school went out onto the school grounds and staged a protest in support of the Chinese student.  Now the police are considering charging the bully with a hate crime.  Sure hope they do!

Wondering if, and when, the U.S. law is passed, that it will also include cyber-bullying??

Hugs, Linda

NoH8

I wait for the day that the is no need for hate crime enhancements.  The bully could have called him an f---ing idiot, but when he threw in ethnicity, that made it a racial. I bet the chinese student wouldn't have reacted if not for adding ethnicity into the scenario.  If the harasser didn't like the student for other reasons, he had no business throwing ethnicity into the mix. I don't think calling names one time should be a crime, but systematic, long term harassment is different.

Race and religion are already included in the bill and many have been fighting hard to have gays included since Matthew was so horribly murdered.  Disability is also added to this bill. The point is no one should be targeted for what they believe, who they love for consenting adults and consenting minors (not adults with minors that's a whole other discussion and has no business in the same conversation, I just wanted to be really clear), where they were born, what they look like, or what their abilities/disabilities.

A friend of mine just found out her nephew has aspergers. For years I've been hearing about how much of a bad kid he  was and all of his antics (she doesn't have kids, some of her complaints were because she doesn't have patience for kids who aren't perfectly behaved and she's not exactly a kid friendly person).  Now that she knows he has a reason for some of his behavior, she is less critical of him. I think the disability part of the bill might be a hard one to prove and more subjective.  If a person with a disability is targeted because the disability makes her/him an easier target -- like, lets rob the blind guy because he can't identify us, than that to me is a hate enhancement. If If they rob the blind guy and never knew he was blind, then probably not. It's a grey area. The guys who targeted Matthew pretended to be gay to get his confidence, that's a hate crime. If the guys did it randomly (not straight guys in a gay bar)and never used hate speech, then no enhancement just because Matthew happens to be gay.

When I was right out of undergrad I worked a mgr in a department store. My assistant used me as a reference, unbeknownst to me. No one had ever used me as a reference and I was more than happpy to tell the person she was a nice woman, but had issues with punctuality and she wasn't much of a go getter. I was never told that as mgmt, we aren't allowed to give recommentations positive or negative, just the dates they worked there. I was shocked to find out she threatened to sue the store for racial discrimination, particularly since I had no idea she was of mixed race. (nothing ever came of it)  Even if I had been out to get her, which I wasn't, I was just overly enthusiastic about someone wanting my reference and trying to metaculously give an accurate one, since I was shocked that she was mixed race the store shouldn't (and wasn't) sued for discrimination.

crazy4carrots

Good grief, the only reason companies ask for references is to find out whether the person was a good worker, dependable, a go-getter etc.  I've given several refs, and the job seeker always asked me ahead of time if I would.  So glad nothing came of it at the store (as for sure nothing should have).

I watched "Philadelphia" the other night, and cried all over again.  Can't think of a better movie ever made highlighting the prejudice and indignities gays have suffered for eons.  Way past time for a hate crime law in the U.S.

jhonydep

Race and religion are already included in the bill and many have been fighting hard to have gays included since Matthew was so horribly murdered. 642-426 Disability is also added to this bill. The point is no one should be targeted for what they believe, who they love for consenting adults and consenting minors (not adults with minors that's a whole other discussion and has no business in the same conversation, I just wanted to be really clear), where they were born, what they look like, or what their abilities/disabilities.

A friend of mine just found out her nephew has aspergers. For years I've been hearing about how much of a bad kid he was and 642-504 all of his antics (she doesn't have kids, some of her complaints were because she doesn't have patience for kids who aren't perfectly behaved and she's not exactly a kid friendly person). Now that she knows he has a reason for some of his behavior, she is less critical of him. I think the disability part of the bill might be a hard one to prove and more subjective. If a person with a disability is targeted because the disability makes her/him an easier target -- like, lets rob the blind guy because he can't identify us, than that to me is a hate enhancement. If If they rob the blind guy and never knew he was blind, then probably not. It's a grey area. 642-524 The guys who targeted Matthew pretended to be gay to get his confidence, that's a hate crime. If the guys did it randomly (not straight guys in a gay bar)and never used hate speech, then no enhancement just because Matthew happens to be gay.