Congress dropped legislation that would have counted attacks on gays as hate crimes.
This is a major step backwards.
The bill, sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, failed because it was attached to a spending bill to give more money for the war in Iraq. This is a sad casualty of Washington politics.
Under current federal law, hate crimes include acts of violence against individuals only on the basis of race, religion, color or national origin.
Let's not forget about Matthew Shepard, the gay college freshman was beaten into a coma in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming, and later died.
This is a major blow to civil rights for gays. They too should be protected from crimes of hatred.
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"Major blow...for Gays"? That's a good thing, right? What kind of a helpless fool relies on the gov't for protection?! Maybe the Democrats will save me, Waaah! Grow a spine. Be a Man. Realize that no one cares about you as much as...you. If anyone feels physically threatened then learn a martial art, get mace, carry a weapon. I prefer plastic zip ties myself--poor mans handcuffs. You say "Don't forget Matthew Shepard." I say you're a freakin idiot for even suggesting another law might've saved him. You think there's a Think Tank somewhere criminals contemplate the consequences of their crimes? Yeah, a Giant Brain Trust, a Board of Directors of Homophobes who carefully calculated that WY was soft on Gay Hate crimes. We need another law like I need another crappy Christmas card. And just as effective.
hate crime laws are a waste of time.
If you commit a crime against someone - you hate them. It's that simple.
If it were up to Caucasians ,there would not be any hate crime laws.To them they still think whatever they do is right,no matter how cruel and dispicable the act may be.The neo-cons "hate gays" yet we have found out alot of them are closeted gays just trying to fool their constituents!