Matthew Shepard
Hate Crimes
Hate crime in America still an issue, and crimes based on sexual orientation contributed to the third highest category reported and made up 15.5% of all reported hate crimes. In order to combat hate crimes the United States government introduced The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act now named the Matthew Shepard Act was passed in 2007 and it gives the government “power to investigate and prosecute crimes of bias because of sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Story of Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard was a college student in Laramie, Wyoming who was a victim of a hate crime due to his homosexuality. In October of 1998, he left a bar with two men who beat him and abandoned him in a rural area. He was left there comatose, and only found the next day by a bicyclist. Matthew Shepard was battered so badly that he passed away five days later. When Matthew Shepard was in the hospital, the people of Laramie as well as people across the nation held candlelight vigils for him. The story of Matthew Shepard spread and took the nation by storm and touched the entire country. Many celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres spoke out against anti gay violence. Musicians such as Melissa Etheridge and Elton John have both written and recorded songs about Matthew Shepard’s murder. There were also several narrative films and documentaries that were made about Matthew Shepard. “The Laramie Project”, “The Matthew Shepard Story”, “Anatomy of a Hate Crime” and “Laramie Inside Out” were all films and documentaries that chronicled Matthew Shepard’s story and all elements surrounding the killing. Matthew Shepard’s death prompted a great deal of activism, advocacy campaigns, and a law called the Matthew Shepard Act.
The Matthew Shepard Act
Matthew Shepard Act was introduced and sponsored by Democrat John Conyers with 171 co-sponsors, as federal bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress. The Matthew Shepard Act which was passed in 2007 is a bill that would expand the 1969 United States Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Furthermore, the Matthew Shepard Act would also “remove the current prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school, give federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue, provide $10 million in funding for 2008 and 2009 to help State and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, and lastly require the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes against transgender people.” The Matthew Shepard act passed the House of Representative on May 3, 2007 237 t 180 with Barney Frank, one of two openly gay Representatives, presiding. In September of 2007, the Matthew Shepard Act, it was passed by the Senate as an amendment to a Department of Defense Authorization bill. The two bills must be now reconciled by a committee. During the Bush Administration, President Bush threatened to veto this act. He did in fact; vet the bill for the Matthew Shepard Act in 2007. Barack Obama however has said passing the Matthew Shepard Act is a priority.
Hate crimes still remain an issue and though there have been hurdles in the past regarding the Matthew Shepard Act, it is a priority on the agenda in the current administration and it will be passed soon. 