Obama’s White House remarks on hate crimes

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT RECEPTION COMMEMORATING THE ENACTMENT OF THE MATTHEW SHEPARD AND JAMES BYRD, JR. HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT

East Room

5:45 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you so much, and welcome to the White House.

There are several people here that I want to just make mention …

PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama delivers on hate crimes

(Washington) For this accomplishment, President Barack Obama sought maximum publicity.

There was a bill signing at a wooden desk set up in the East Room, with the media invited, followed by a reception for joyous, champagne-sipping supporters and an address to them, again, from the East Room.

Obama was keeping a campaign …

Full story: Congress acts to extend hate crimes to cover gays

(Washington) The House voted Thursday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, significantly expanding the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.

With expected passage by the Senate, federal prosecutors will for the first time be …

House passes defense authorization report, including hate crimes

From an HRC press release:

(Washington) The U.S. House of Representatives passed the conference report for the FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill by a vote of 281 to 146, bringing critical hate crimes protections closer to becoming law than ever before.

Earlier this week, the House voted down a last-ditch effort to …

States with more Catholics more favor gay rights

Want to predict which state might move next to legalize same-sex marriage? You might count Catholics. The higher their percentage of the population, the more likely the state is to… support gay rights.

This counter-intuitive finding is brought to you with a tip of two hats — mine to Mark Silk at Spiritual Politics and his to Robbie Jones who led Silk to a new study soon by be published by two Columbia University political scientists.

Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips examined public support and resulting political policy on eight issues including marriage, housing, adoption and hate crimes.

The main thrust of the study was to examine whether there is “pro-gay bias in policy making” (the authors conclude no) or a tyranny of local majorities “in which anti-gay majorities trump minority rights” (the authors again say no).

See States with more Catholics more favor gay rights

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Report Warns Murder Rate Against Transgendered People Is Rising

A new report has found an estimated 200 transgendered persons were murdered from January 2008 to June 2009; which is enough to say that every three days a transgendered person is killed somewhere in the world.

The project was started by the international group Transgender Europe (TGEU) and the journal ‘Liminalis’ in an effort to track and combat violence committed against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and questioning (LGBT) community.

The project compiled at least 121 murder cases from 2008 and another 83 murder cases for the year-to-date. Preliminary results show that the murder rate for transgendered people is a global problem, effecting North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

“Furthermore that the number of reports of murdered trans people is increasing in the last years,” the report warns. “The majority of cases have been reported from Latin America and North America.”

The report shows Brazil is by far the most dangerous place in the world for the transgendered community. In 2008, 59 people were murdered while another 23 murders were reported so far this year. Last year, 16 transgendered people were murdered in the United States, the second most dangerous place on Earth.

While the report is an effort to document all crimes, even its authors admit to the limitations of compiling a survey while countries continue to avoid reporting hate crimes.

See Report Warns Murder Rate Against Transgendered People Is Rising

AHN

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Hate Crimes Bill, Long Overdue

The Jewish Week Writes:

“There’s a good reason the Anti-Defamation League and a number of other major Jewish groups have made passage of a new hate crimes bill a top priority: there are still too many places in America where violent crimes against unpopular minorities are not investigated or prosecuted with any vigor.
Different versions of the measure have again passed both houses of Congress, and once again conservative lawmakers are trying to attach “poison pill” amendments and marshaling their forces to strip the hate crimes provisions when the measures go to a House-Senate conference committee. And once again, Jewish groups face a tough fight in protecting legislation that may be even more critical as the recession fuels the growth of assorted hate groups.”

See Hate Crimes Bill, Long Overdue

The Jewish Week

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Senate adopts amendments to hate crimes measure

The U.S. Senate has adopted a hate crimes measure as part of the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill — and with it, amendments introduced by an opponent of hate crimes legislation.

Adopted on July 16 by unanimous consent after cloture was invoked, 63-28, the hate crimes measure was altered by four amendments. All four amendments were approved Monday.

See Senate adopts amendments to hate crimes measure

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Mother: Gay Son Suffered Brutal Harassment at 4-h Camp

Harassment at 4-H Camp
Mother Says Gay Son Was Tortured at Camp

RIPLEY, W.Va. (WSAZ) — A mother from Jackson County, W.Va., says her teenage son was brutally harassed at summer 4-H camp because he’s gay.

“He was unconscionable, he was, he could barely speak,” says the boy’s mother, Valera White.

White said the language was so vile that she can’t categorize what was said. In fact, she didn’t find out what these campers said until the police report was filed.

The catch is that police can not do much because there is no law that protects White’s 15-year-old son from what happened. West Virginia does not include sexual orientation in its hate crimes law.

The family said what happened at camp isn’t their first experience with being ridiculed because their teenage son is gay. Doing things like going to the grocery store have become enormous tasks for White and her son because the taunting seems unending.

White’s son says he cannot go to the movies anymore. When asked if he wanted to tell WSAZ.com what kind of comments people made to him, he said, “it’s not worth it.”

A spokeswoman for the 4H camp says that the two boys in question were sent home from camp, though the family says there were actually three people.

The spokesperson also says 4H always works to create an environment for children to feel safe. She says that counselors were nearby during the attack.

See Mother: Gay Son Suffered Brutal Harassment at Camp WSAZ-TV

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