The act???

Question

The U.S. Senate has just passed the Matthew Shepard Act!

HRC supporters sent 350,000 emails, made 30,000 calls to Congress, and wrote over 5,000 letters to local papers. The commitment was inspiring. And even Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) acknowledged the work of the Human Rights Campaign during debate on the Senate floor.

Does anyone else like where this is going? Whats your opinions on it?

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Ok where theres this site, hrc.com, Its a suport glbt people, you can go there and learn what im talking about :)

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http://www.hrc.org/

Sorry :)
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Answer 1

Oh I definitely think it's a step in the right direction. Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tied to a fence to die, over the course of two days, in Oct of 1998. The legislation simply puts stiffer penalties on hate crimes.

The reason I think this piece of legislation is good is because first of all, he was killed just for being gay. And that's it. By two red necks from a small town. And second I think it's a good idea for when the terrorist sleeper cells in America are called into action this legislation will give us stiffer penalties to convict the responsible parties for those who survive an attack.

Hate crimes encompass many different things. Like gang violence, rape is a hate crime in many circumstances. There are more, but I'm almost brain dead.

You can read about Matthew Shepard in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

It's called the Matthew Shepard Act because of the horrible way he died and his parents fought hard for a bill and are very honored they named it after their son. You can read about the bill right after it was passed at http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer

Will it help, maybe? As long as the ACLU doesn’t get involved. And I have no doubt Bush will sign it. Not because he necessarily believes it but the fall out from the gay community and the likes would be huge and so damaging. Those support gay rights but aren't gay will also get involved and I just do not think George W isn't aware how bad it would be if he didn't sign it.

If he doesn't sign it, he's an idiot. It's a decent piece of legislation and just because it has Matthew's name on it is no reason not to sign it. Hell they are going to have to remind him who Matthew was 5 minutes before the press conference.

xxx

Answer 2

Bush isn't going to sign it into law and there aren't the votes to override.

It would be a shame to make it a crime based on a persons thoughts. How could you prove your innocence in court? You would be guilty till you could show you were innocent.

Answer 3

while it's a step forward, i don't know how likely it is to pass. to get it passed, they had to attach it to a defense spending bill. that will have to be rectified with the house version. it'll really tie President Bush's hands. veto it and the spending bill (needed to keep fighting the afghanistan and iraq wars) or sign it and tick off his conservative base (and as a result probably dash all hopes of republican gains in 2008). it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Answer 4

I think it is good, but at the same time, a part of me does not feel like it's going to get that far up the ladder...At least not without a huge battle that may last for a few years =/

Answer 5

Fill me in, I have no idea what that is. I don't live the in the US. Sounds like a good thing?

Answer 6

I think that's great. Now hopefully the Prez will sign it.

Answer 7

nooo i dont like this at all