After Ten Years, Hate Crimes Legislation Finally Signed Into Law

by Michael A. Jones

categories: Hate Crimes, LGBT Rights and Law Enforcement, Obama Administration and Gay Rights

Published October 29, 2009 @ 05:06AM PT

It's been a long decade, spanning Matthew Shepard (the University of Wyoming student killed in 1998 for being gay) to Jack Price (the 49-year-old Queens resident who was beaten into a coma two weeks ago by thugs who targeted him for being gay). But finally, LGBT rights advocates got to watch yesterday as President Obama signed expanded federal hate crimes legislation that includes protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability.

As a result, civil rights took a major leap forward yesterday, and the federal government has finally done something to curb the rising statistics of hate crimes committed toward members of the LGBT population.

Obama gave a short speech after signing the bill into law (the bill itself was attached to a larger defense spending measure), where he said that nobody in America should ever feel afraid to walk down the street holding the hand of the person they love. And though the President has been hit or miss on many of the issues facing the LGBT world, the man had his game on yesterday in his comments.

"We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits -- not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear," Obama said. "No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability.  At root, this isn't just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people.  This is about whether we value one another -- whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus."

Dozens upon dozens of organizations and activists have been involved in the fight to expand hate crimes laws, from the Human Rights Campaign to GLAAD. But the story to pass hate crimes legislation rings most personal, perhaps, for two families -- the family of Matthew Shepard and the family of James Byrd Jr.

Shepard's story catapulted the debate over hate crimes based on sexual orientation into the stratosphere, thanks in large part to the work of his parents, Judy & Denis Shepard, in the wake of their son's death. They traveled to college campuses to speak with students, met with politicians, and tirelessly lobbied for hate crimes legislation that would memorialize their son by protecting a nation of people just like him.

For James Byrd Jr., a Texas man who was tied to the back of a truck and dragged down a patch of road by three white men until his right arm and head were decapitated, his family worked in partnership with LGBT rights advocates to see that a full and comprehensive hate crimes law became reality. Yesterday, their hard work paid dividends, as Obama signed one of the first pieces of civil rights legislation in a long, long time.

Judy Shepard put it very poignantly yesterday: "We are incredibly grateful to Congress and the president for taking this step forward on behalf of hate crime victims and their families, especially given the continuing attacks on people simply for living their lives openly and honestly. But each of us can and must do much more to ensure true equality for all Americans."

Hate crimes is just one piece of the equal rights puzzle. The work to change hearts and minds from the hate that feeds horrible violence? That work continues, and it continues in earnest.

Below is the video of Obama signing this historic legislation. A decade of delay ended with Obama's stroke of a pen yesterday.

(Photo courtesy of wh.gov.)