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Victim of 1998 anti-gay murder will be remembered in new legislation
Matthew Shepard
US Senate approves Matthew Shepard hate crimes act
The US Senate yesterday voted to include sexual orientation in federal hate crimes statutes, which had previously covered only race, colour, religion or national origin.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (commonly known as the Matthew Shepard Act) was passed by a vote of 69 to 29, and expands the statutes to cover attacks motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
What has been described as the "nation's first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people" will now go to President Obama for his signature.
White House spokesman Shin Inouye said: "As the president said back in April, the hate crimes bill takes on an important civil rights issue to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. He looks forward to signing it into law."
The late Senator Edward Kennedy originally introduced the legislation in 1997. The bill became known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act in honour of Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man from Wyoming, and James Byrd, a 49-year-old African-American from Texas, both of whom were brutally murdered in 1998.
As well as expanding the protected groups, the legislation will increase resources for state and local law enforcement officials, empower the US Justice Department to investigate hate crimes that local officials decline to pursue, and direct the FBI to monitor hate crimes committed against transgender people - statistics already gathered by the Bureau for other groups.
Matthew's parents Dennis and Judy Shepard have campaigned for more than a decade for the legislation's passage since their son's anti-gay murder.
Judy Shepard, president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation board, said in a statement: "Today, the United States Senate took an historic step toward ensuring justice for the victims of hate crimes targeted for violence due to their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability."
