Civil Rights Coalition Applauds House passage of Hate Crimes Prevention Act

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation’s largest civil and human rights coalition, released the following statement on today’s House passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of the final conference report for the Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization (H.R. 2647):

“The House of Representatives today took a strong stand for law enforcement and the advancement of civil and human rights by sending a clear signal that America will not tolerate crimes motivated by bias and hate.

This legislation recognizes the sad reality that violence committed against individuals because of their race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation remains a serious problem in America. These crimes are intended to intimidate not only the individual victim, but all members of the victim’s community, and even members of other communities historically victimized by hate.

The civil rights community, which has been fighting for passage of this legislation for 14 years, applauds the House for its vote today. We urge the Senate to approve the legislation without delay.”