Victoria Brownworth

the senate passed hate crimes legislation late yesterday that includes sexual orientation. the senate vote was  68-29 (the same republicans who are for gang-rape of women are for beating up queers, in case you were wondering.) the house previously voted to support the amendment, which was tacked onto a must-pass defense appropriations bill in order to force inclusion of the legislation. the measure expands current law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. the measure is named for matthew shepard, who was tortured and murdered 11 years ago in a gruesome hate crime.

john mccain (R-AZ) and lamar alexander (R-TN) asserted that tacking the matthew shepard act onto the defense bill was ”abuse.” alexander declared that the inclusion of sexual orientation was “unnecessary.” both were also among the republicans for gang rape.  

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. the 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 has said repeatedly that he supports the legislation and that he will sign the bill into law.

my question: if his commitment to the queer community is as adamant as he claimed two weekends ago at HRC, why didn’t he sign the bill today? this bill was first proposed in 2001. it’s 2009. does anyone–especially those of us who are repeatedly targeted for our sexual orientation–need to wait another day for this to be law?

just asking. —-vab