Hate Crimes Success!
Matthew Shepard Act Signed into Law
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) stands on the side of love in the struggle to end violent crimes motivated by bias against the perceived or actual identities of the victims. Our efforts have helped lawmakers pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act!
The UUA, many member congregations and individuals have worked hard on this legislation for over a decade, and now President Obama has signed the law which classifies offenses based upon sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, or disability as “hate crimes," and strengthens the ability of the federal, state, and local governments to investigate and prosecute such crimes.
While this is a huge victory, we must remember that this law will not stop violence from occurring in our communities. While bias-fueled violence is a concern for many identity groups such as those based on race or religion, it is a particularly dire problem facing bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender (BGLT) communities. Please do all that you can to educate yourself and others about BGLT issues and Stand on the Side of Love in your communities.
For more information contact la_bglt @ uua.org.
Last updated on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
