 | Victory on Federal Hate Crimes Legislation. |
At the end of April GIRES Technical Officer, joined with a trans activists from all parts of the USA to lobby Congress to protect trans people against hate crimes. She can be seen in the picture above of those who participated in this major effort.
On October 22, 2009, these efforts were rewarded when in an historic move, the United States Senate, by a vote of 68 to 29, joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama signed the bill into law on October 29th.
In the past, federal law has only mentioned gender identity in a negative context, such as explicitly excluding transgender people from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The passage of the hate crimes bill marks a significant turning point from the days in which the federal government contributed to the oppression of transgender people to today when federal law takes action to protect our lives.
Impact
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will have a number of positive impacts.
- Help educate law enforcement about the frequent hate violence against transgender people and the need to prevent and appropriately address it .
- Help provide federal expertise and resources when it is needed to overcome a lack of resources or the willful inaction on the part of local and/or state law enforcement.
- Help educate the public that violence against anyone is unacceptable and illegal.
Most importantly, this law marks a turning point for the federal government, by including positive protections for transgender people and taking seriously the need to address the discrimination that they face.
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