On Thursday the U. S. Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Act 60 to 39, which expands the federal hate crimes laws to include, amongst other things, violence toward a person because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a huge victory for GLBT rights, and human rights in general. No matter how you feel about homosexuality, it is heartless to deny basic human rights--here, the right to not be a victim of violence because of who you are--to anyone.
It's hard to believe that it's been nine years since Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left today outside Fort Laramie, Wyoming. His mother came to speak at Bowdoin during my freshman year, which coincided with a performance of "The Laramie Project." Matthew will always be a reminder of why we need to teach and practice not only tolerance, but acceptance.
President Bush has said he may veto this legislation because it is "unnecessary." The Human Rights Coalition says that according to the FBI, 25 Americans are victims of hate crimes each day. Hardly "unnecessary," I think. When local authorities are unable or unwilling to investigate and bring to court hate crimes, this new act transfers that power to the federal government. We need to set an example that hate is not going to go unnoticed, and that hate crimes are unforgivable.
