2008 Woodie Awards
Why hate-crimes legislation is important
Robyn Hyden
Issue date: 10/2/07 Section: News/Features
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On Sept. 27, the Senate voted to approve the Matthew Shepard Act, a new bill that covers hate crimes directed at persons because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. A similar bill passed in the House in May. This is the first such piece of federal hate crimes legislation covering crimes in which bias against homosexual, transgendered, disabled or female victims is the major motivating factor in the crime.
Federal legislation that specifically covers these groups is needed because states vary widely in their definitions of what is classified as a hate crime. Most states include crimes directed at persons for their racial, ethnic or religious identity, and several include crimes against the mentally or physically disabled, but in many states, crimes targeted against persons because of gender or sexual identity may not be classified as hate crimes. If President George W. Bush signs this legislation (a big "if," as many family rights and religious rights groups have been pressuring him to veto it) then all such crimes will be classified as hate crimes and tried with harsher penalties.
Civil rights groups have agitated for the passage of this legislation for years. The lack of hate-crime coverage for sexual orientation first came to nationwide attention about nine years ago. On Oct. 6, 1998, a gay University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard was robbed, brutally assaulted, tied to a fence and left to die by two 21-year-old men who, as their girlfriends testified, had planned to target a gay man. Both defendants used the "gay panic" defense, claiming they were driven temporarily insane when the 5-foot-2, 105-pound victim hit on them in a bar. Ultimately, anti-gay bias was found to be the primary motive in the crime. The extreme brutality and homophobia of the attack shocked national and world media, generating discussion about prejudice, violence, and hate-crime law.
Shepard's death highlighted the extent to which certain groups are more vulnerable to violence and hate crimes. For years, gay rights groups, along with women's and disability rights groups, called for harsher punishments for crimes based on homophobia, misogyny and hatred of the disabled. They argued that harsher penalties are needed to make clear that crimes of intolerance and hatred are unacceptable in an open society-less acceptable than other types of crime, in fact-and will be punished accordingly.
Federal legislation that specifically covers these groups is needed because states vary widely in their definitions of what is classified as a hate crime. Most states include crimes directed at persons for their racial, ethnic or religious identity, and several include crimes against the mentally or physically disabled, but in many states, crimes targeted against persons because of gender or sexual identity may not be classified as hate crimes. If President George W. Bush signs this legislation (a big "if," as many family rights and religious rights groups have been pressuring him to veto it) then all such crimes will be classified as hate crimes and tried with harsher penalties.
Civil rights groups have agitated for the passage of this legislation for years. The lack of hate-crime coverage for sexual orientation first came to nationwide attention about nine years ago. On Oct. 6, 1998, a gay University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard was robbed, brutally assaulted, tied to a fence and left to die by two 21-year-old men who, as their girlfriends testified, had planned to target a gay man. Both defendants used the "gay panic" defense, claiming they were driven temporarily insane when the 5-foot-2, 105-pound victim hit on them in a bar. Ultimately, anti-gay bias was found to be the primary motive in the crime. The extreme brutality and homophobia of the attack shocked national and world media, generating discussion about prejudice, violence, and hate-crime law.
Shepard's death highlighted the extent to which certain groups are more vulnerable to violence and hate crimes. For years, gay rights groups, along with women's and disability rights groups, called for harsher punishments for crimes based on homophobia, misogyny and hatred of the disabled. They argued that harsher penalties are needed to make clear that crimes of intolerance and hatred are unacceptable in an open society-less acceptable than other types of crime, in fact-and will be punished accordingly.
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