On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act - also known as the Matthew Shepard Act.
Passing with a bipartisan majority, the bill will provide additional resources to local law enforcement in the investigation of crimes driven by race, ethnicity, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
Additionally, the bill will allow the feds to step into an investigation when local agencies can't or refuse to look into serious hate crimes.
The bill will also extend federally protected categories to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts will introduce the Senate version of the bill soon, and President Obama has suggested that he will sign the bill should it come to his desk.
President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, said that "The nation cannot wait any longer to protect all of its citizens. We should all be able to walk the streets without fear."
Additionally, the bill will allow the feds to step into an investigation when local agencies can't or refuse to look into serious hate crimes.
The bill will also extend federally protected categories to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts will introduce the Senate version of the bill soon, and President Obama has suggested that he will sign the bill should it come to his desk.
President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, said that "The nation cannot wait any longer to protect all of its citizens. We should all be able to walk the streets without fear."
Finally, equality... let's get on getting a marriage bill passed shall we... I wanna hit the aisle... j/k
-robb-
