Background
The 1969 federal hate-crime law (18 U.S.C. § 245(b)(2)) extends to crimes motivated by actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin, and only while the victim is engaging in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school. Penalties, under both the existing law and the LLEHCPA (Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, originally called the "Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act"), for hate crimes involving firearms are prison terms of up to 10 years, while crimes involving kidnapping, sexual assault, or murder can bring life in prison. In 1990, Congress passed the Hate Crimes Statistics Act which allowed the government to count the incidence of hate crimes based on religion, race, national origin, and sexual orientation. However, a sentence was added on to the end of bill stating that federal funds should not be used to “promote or encourage homosexuality.”
According to FBI statistics, of the over 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, 55% were motivated by racial bias, 17% by religious bias, 14% sexual orientation bias, 14% ethnicity bias, and 1% disability bias.
Though not necessarily on the same scale as Matthew Shepard’s murder, violent incidences against gays and lesbians occur frequently. Gay and lesbian people are often verbally abused, assaulted both physically and sexually, and threatened not just by peers and strangers, but also by family members. One study of 192 gay men aged 14-21 found that approximately 1/3 reported being verbally assaulted by at least one family member when they came out and another 10% reported being physically assaulted. Gay and lesbian youth are particularly prone to victimization. A nationwide study of over 9000 gay high school students, 24% of gay men reported being victimized at least 10 times per year because of their sexual orientation; 11% of homosexual women reported the same thing. Victims often experience severe depression, a sense of helplessness, low self-esteem, and frequent suicidal thoughts. Gay youth are two to four times more likely to be threatened with a deadly weapon at school and miss more days of school than their heterosexual peers. Further, they are two to seven times more likely to attempt suicide. These issues, the societal stigma around homosexuality and fear of bias-motivated attack, lead to gay men and women, especially teenagers, becoming more likely to abuse drugs such as marijuana and cocaine and alcohol, have unprotected sex with multiple sexual partners, find themselves in unwanted sexual situations, have body image and eating disorders, and be at higher risk for STDs and HIV/AIDS.
The Act was supported by thirty-one state Attorneys General and over 210 national law enforcement, professional, education, civil rights, religious, and civic organizations, including the AFL-CIO, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the NAACP. A November 2001 poll indicated that 73% of Americans were in favor of hate-crime legislation covering sexual orientation.
The LLEHCPA was introduced in substantially similar form in each Congress since the 105th Congress in 1999. The 2007 bill expanded on the earlier versions by including transgender provisions and making it explicit that the law should not be interpreted to restrict people's freedom of speech or association.
Read more about this topic: Matthew Shepard And James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
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