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Oct. 28th, 2009 03:52 pmToday President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Act into law. This act extends federal hate crimes law to cover crimes committed on the basis of gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Interestingly, I predict that the biggest controversy here will arise because of gender. I've long been of the opinion that rape is often (usually?) a hate crime against women (though it can be such against LGBT people as well). If it's premeditated and there is ample evidence of anti-woman sentiment, use of slurs during the crime, misogynistic literature on the rapist's hard drive... well, that sounds like it meets all the markers of a hate crime. Now it can be prosecuted as such. It's only a matter of time before a federal prosecutor decides to make this case.
ETA: The bill was renamed this year "The Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act," which is the name it bore at signing. James Byrd, Jr. was a Black man dragged to his death by two white men in a pickup truck in 1998.
Interestingly, I predict that the biggest controversy here will arise because of gender. I've long been of the opinion that rape is often (usually?) a hate crime against women (though it can be such against LGBT people as well). If it's premeditated and there is ample evidence of anti-woman sentiment, use of slurs during the crime, misogynistic literature on the rapist's hard drive... well, that sounds like it meets all the markers of a hate crime. Now it can be prosecuted as such. It's only a matter of time before a federal prosecutor decides to make this case.
ETA: The bill was renamed this year "The Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act," which is the name it bore at signing. James Byrd, Jr. was a Black man dragged to his death by two white men in a pickup truck in 1998.
