Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act Passed in House

http://www.feministmajority.com/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11670
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Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act Passed in House"

Feminist Daily News WireApril 30, 2009 (Media Resources: GovTrack HR 1913; Senators Kennedy and Leahy Press Release 4/28/09; Feminist Daily Newswire 5/4/07, 4/29/09; Statement of President Obama 4/28/09)

This article is about The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (or the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act) the was passed in the U.S. House on 4/29. The Act will add to the current federal hate crime laws and remove some of its faults. The new Act will "include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability," (Feminist Daily News Wire). It used to be that a victim of a hate crime could only be protected under this law if they had been injured in a "federally protected area or activity" in other words going across a state line or at the polls during an election. Thankfully this was removed.

Not to seem unkind. But what kind of people experience a hate crime trying to vote or crossing a stateline. It's ridculous to only protect these kinds of places under the Hate Crime Law. How many people could've seen justice for their abuse if this new Act would've been passed just a year earlier. You know how many? All of them. Not one of them would've gone unpunished if the proof was ubtained. This just shows you how luck we are to have the President we just elected. During Bush's reign of idioticity similar bills were constructed but never made it out of the congressional committees. When Bush hear of this particular bill he said and I quote , "veto the bill" if it made it through congress.

Hopefully this will put an end once and for all to senseless Hate Crimes. It won't, but it's a step forward in the fight against the harming/hatred of other races, sexual orientation, sex, mental disorders, etc. We live in a world that is made up of different kinds of people. This Act will help but it's not enough. The only way we can end hate once and for all is through education. Better understanding of others will help us become more open-minded to the world around us.