Urge the Senate to pass S. 909, which would include gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of groups protected by existing hate crimes legislation.

A hate crime based on gender identity or sexual oreintation is not simply a crime committed against another LGBT person, but a crime targeted at an entire group of LGBT people. This is actually an act of terrorism since the ultimate goal of the perpetrator is not just to harm or murder a random  person, but to force a group of people to accept their supposed subordinate status in the social order. Crimes based on such underlying hate is more pernicious than a simple beating or random killing, and should warrant a harsher consequence.

To include gender identity and sexual orientation in hate crimes legislation is logical not to mention prudent since we already punish crimes based on their effect on society. We punish manslaughter less than murder because the latter has a far more deleterious effect on society than the former. In a case like a hate crime where the negative effect on society is multiplied by the perpetrator’s motive, it just makes sense to punish the crime more.

It is time that LGBT Americans receive equal protection under federal law.