(NOTE: It should be mentioned that getting the hate crimes bill signed has been an 11-year effort in which Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy has worked closely with the late Senator Edward Kennedy. Leahy assumed chief sponsorship of the bill when Senator Kennedy became ill. –odum)
A great step by Obama, another promise kept.
And I can't help but ask: what are the odds McCain would have done this?
Tell me there's no difference.
A first, long overdue, small step. I watched the signing livestreamed via the Advocate‘s website and found myself tearing up: recognition by our national government of our humanity as gay people.
Albeit only after a beating, or property destruction, or torture or death. Hate crimes were created as a category to allow federal jurisdiction when local law enforcement refused to prosecute white men for lynching black men, bombing black churches, burning crosses on their lawns to prevent them from voting.
It’s not preventative; it’s punishment. Perhaps, I hope (but don’t rely on) it’s rough justice, after the fact.
IIRC, getting sexual orientation into Vermont’s illegal discrimination list was one of the earliest steps the legislature took toward full equality. It took a very long time to get gender identity there.
NanuqFC
We embrace freedom and equality in theory, Mr. Speaker. We must also embrace them in fact. ~ Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, 2005
I still have problems with the fact that the hate crimes bill was attached to a $680-billion military spending bill that includes $130 billion for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. No wonder Russ Feingold wouldn’t support it. I’m really glad the bill passed, but does it really have a place with a war budget?
Chris Hedges, one of my all-time favorite writers, put it together rather succinctly.
To read more of Hedges’ article click here.
(Lawyer: CIA kept detainees alive to keep torturing them, Raw Story, 10/28/09)
Yeah … we’re still a torture nation.