Hate crimes addressed in defense bill
By: Meghan Cooke, Staff Writer
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: State & National
Despite Republican resistance, an amendment approved by the U.S. Senate and tucked into the defense authorization bill would allow federal law enforcement to assist states prosecuting violence against gays.
The amendment would allow the federal government to interfere in hate crime prosecution if prompted by a local authority's inaction and would allot $10 million to cover the cost of local prosecutions.
It would also expand the federal definition of hate crimes - identified as violence motivated by race, religion, color or national origin - to include motivations of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
The amendment is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student whose brutal 1998 murder brought national attention to discrimination against gays.
Terri Phoenix, director of UNC's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center, said she hopes the legislation will create a "trickle-down effect," resulting in a cultural shift toward acceptance.
In February 2005, UNC student Thomas Stockwell was assaulted by at least six people on Franklin Street. Kicking and hitting him in the face and torso, the attackers yelled homosexual epithets.
Phoenix said many people don't identify discrimination or even derogatory remarks against homosexuals as wrong.
"The presence of hate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity says that's not OK," she said.
Both of North Carolina's Republican U.S. senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, voted against the measure. Nine Republicans broke from party lines to vote for it.
UNC political science professor Tom Carsey said President Bush must decide between prolonging the funding fight for the war or accepting a provision that is unpopular in the conservative Republican base.
"This strategy of attaching amendments to bills that are unrelated to the original bills is an old, old strategy," he said.
Naysayers said the provision is not appropriate for the defense bill, while supporters argue the amendment fits into the defense bill because it, too, will battle terrorist behavior.
The amendment would allow the federal government to interfere in hate crime prosecution if prompted by a local authority's inaction and would allot $10 million to cover the cost of local prosecutions.
It would also expand the federal definition of hate crimes - identified as violence motivated by race, religion, color or national origin - to include motivations of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
The amendment is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student whose brutal 1998 murder brought national attention to discrimination against gays.
Terri Phoenix, director of UNC's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Center, said she hopes the legislation will create a "trickle-down effect," resulting in a cultural shift toward acceptance.
In February 2005, UNC student Thomas Stockwell was assaulted by at least six people on Franklin Street. Kicking and hitting him in the face and torso, the attackers yelled homosexual epithets.
Phoenix said many people don't identify discrimination or even derogatory remarks against homosexuals as wrong.
"The presence of hate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity says that's not OK," she said.
Both of North Carolina's Republican U.S. senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, voted against the measure. Nine Republicans broke from party lines to vote for it.
UNC political science professor Tom Carsey said President Bush must decide between prolonging the funding fight for the war or accepting a provision that is unpopular in the conservative Republican base.
"This strategy of attaching amendments to bills that are unrelated to the original bills is an old, old strategy," he said.
Naysayers said the provision is not appropriate for the defense bill, while supporters argue the amendment fits into the defense bill because it, too, will battle terrorist behavior.
Be the first to comment on this story