More than ten years after the murder of her son Matthew Shepard, Judy Shepard continues to be a tireless campaigner for hate crimes legislation in the U.S. Current federal hate crimes laws do not include protections on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. One only has to look as far as the murder trial in Colorado this week of Angie Zapata, the 18-year-old transgender woman who was murdered simply because of her gender identity to see the drastic implications of this hole in our federal laws.
This week, hate crimes legislation will again be introduced in the U.S. Congress, and it stands the best chance of passing than at any other moment in history. The Human Rights Campaign is out with a great new video, featuring the words of Judy Shepard. As Judy puts it: "Ten years of calls for the federal government to take action. Ten years of waiting. Tens of thousands more victims."
Now is the time for Congress to act, and now is the time for the Obama administration to follow through with its campaign pledge of passing federal hate crimes legislation that includes protections on sexual orientation and gender identity. At this link, you can email your Congressmembers and urge them to support the passage of federal hate crimes legislation. Please send a letter, and send the message that ten years has been long enough to wait for hate crimes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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