Gender Identity Inclusive Hate Crime Bill Hits House
Written By Ross von Metzke Location: Washington DC Category: Daily News (Washington D.C.) — The U.S. House of Representatives will review today a federal hate crimes bill with explicit protections against crimes based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
"Transgender and gay Americans deserve the same clear protections against hate crimes as other Americans," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a news release.
"We’re proud that for the first time legislation will be introduced that explicitly covers the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and the community will have an unambiguous shot at equal protection under hate crimes law."
The bill’s sponsors cross party lines, with Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introducing the bill.
Mara Keisling, the executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, sees the introduction of this transgender inclusive legislation as a historic moment.
“The work that LGBT and other progressive allies put into this bill really signals we're coming to a point of reintegration of trans people into the LGBT movement," Keisling told the Washington Blade. “I'm not aware of any LGBT group that opposed us being included.”
Keisling added, "Unfortunately, the bill is unlikely to pass in the House this session."
The bill is strongly supported by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force after declaring in the past that it would no longer support passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which provides workplace protection based on sexual orientation, unless gender identity were also included in the bill's final version.
The Human Rights Campaign took a similar stance last year after adding transgender rights to its mission statement.
"The Task Force firmly believes that all legislation must unambiguously include language covering the transgender community," Lisa Mottet, the transgender rights attorney at the Task Force, told this publication. "Our community has made tremendous progress towards becoming a reunified LGBT community, and our standards for legislative language have changed in that process."
Currently eight states and the District of Columbia have hate crimes laws that include coverage for transgender people.
© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved
Article provided by www.GayLinkContent.com . For more information,contact us at info@gaylinkcontent.com . Reprinted with permission by 4 Gays Web Hosting and 1 Body GLBT Christian Resources
"Transgender and gay Americans deserve the same clear protections against hate crimes as other Americans," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a news release.
"We’re proud that for the first time legislation will be introduced that explicitly covers the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and the community will have an unambiguous shot at equal protection under hate crimes law."
The bill’s sponsors cross party lines, with Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introducing the bill.
Mara Keisling, the executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, sees the introduction of this transgender inclusive legislation as a historic moment.
“The work that LGBT and other progressive allies put into this bill really signals we're coming to a point of reintegration of trans people into the LGBT movement," Keisling told the Washington Blade. “I'm not aware of any LGBT group that opposed us being included.”
Keisling added, "Unfortunately, the bill is unlikely to pass in the House this session."
The bill is strongly supported by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force after declaring in the past that it would no longer support passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which provides workplace protection based on sexual orientation, unless gender identity were also included in the bill's final version.
The Human Rights Campaign took a similar stance last year after adding transgender rights to its mission statement.
"The Task Force firmly believes that all legislation must unambiguously include language covering the transgender community," Lisa Mottet, the transgender rights attorney at the Task Force, told this publication. "Our community has made tremendous progress towards becoming a reunified LGBT community, and our standards for legislative language have changed in that process."
Currently eight states and the District of Columbia have hate crimes laws that include coverage for transgender people.
© 2005 GayWired.com, All Rights Reserved
Article provided by www.GayLinkContent.com . For more information,contact us at info@gaylinkcontent.com . Reprinted with permission by 4 Gays Web Hosting and 1 Body GLBT Christian Resources
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