wfn.org | Hate crimes bill

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

For more information contact:
Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
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99-078

Mother of murdered gay student urges passage of hate crimes 
bill

by Kathryn McCormick
     
(ENS) In emotional testimony, the mother of murdered 
gay college student Matthew Shepard urged a U.S. Senate panel to 
support the Hate Crimes Prevention Act "to help make sure no 
family again has to suffer like mine."
     
In May 11 testimony, Judy Shepard recalled for the 
Senate Judiciary Committee the days last October when she and her 
husband, Dennis, were summoned from their home in Saudi Arabia, 
where Dennis Shepard works for an oil company, to Wyoming where 
they had lived while Matthew was growing up.
     
Matthew, a 21-year-old student at the University of 
Wyoming, had been badly beaten and left tied to a fence post in 
an act prompted at least in part by the fact that he was gay. He 
died a few days later. One man has pleaded guilty and received 
two consecutive life sentences for the murder; another man is 
scheduled to go on trial in August.
     
"We need to decide what kind of nation we want to be," 
Judy Shepard said. "One that treats all people with dignity and 
respect, or one that allows some people and their family members 
to become marginalized." She noted that since 1991, hate crimes 
have nearly doubled. In 1997, the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's most recent reporting period, race-related hate 
crimes represented nearly 60 percent of all cases; gay, lesbian 
and bisexual Americans were victims of about 14 percent.
     
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced in 
Congress last year, but was not passed. The bill was reintroduced 
in March by a group of Congress members led by Sen. Edward 
Kennedy (D-MA).
     
It would expand the circumstances under which a hate 
crime could be federally prosecuted. Current law allows 
prosecution only if the victim was exercising a federally 
protected right, such as voting, enrolling in school or serving 
as a juror. The bill also would allow local law enforcement 
entities to receive more federal assistance in prosecuting hate 
crimes.
     
"I know this measure is not a cure-all," Judy Shepard 
said, "and it won't stop all hate violence. But it will send the 
message that this senseless violence is unacceptable and un-
American. It will let perpetrators of hate violence know their 
actions will be punished."

A bishop declares support
     
At a press conference before the hearing, Jane Holmes 
Dixon, suffragan bishop of Washington, emphasized her support for 
the measure. She pointed not only at the case of Matthew Shepard, 
who was an acolyte in his hometown Episcopal church, but also to 
that of James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to his 
death in Texas, and Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man slain in 
Alabama.
     
Dixon recalled her childhood in Mississippi, when a 
14-year-old African-American boy "was shot dead and  dumped in a 
river in 1955 for daring to speak to a white woman in a grocery 
store." Despite some "real progress" toward ending violence 
against persons because of their race or creed, she noted that 
"the gruesome murder in Jasper, Texas, last year reminds us that 
that work is not yet complete.
     
"The work we must now begin is for national 
legislation that seeks to end crimes of hate based on the sexual 
orientation, or gender, or disability of the victim," she said. 
"The need has been made clear to us recently. We have had a 
crucifixion in the Wyoming winter, and a man beaten to death in 
Alabama and his body burned on a pyre of automobile tires just 
weeks ago. People of faith cannot stand quietly by while such 
evil persists in our midst," she added.
     
The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church passed a 
resolution last October, urging Congress to "enact legislation to 
expand the definition of hate crimes to include gender, sexual 
orientation or disability (in addition to color, race, religion, 
or national origin) and expand the number or settings in which 
the law could be applied."
     
The resolution came out of a council meeting at which 
Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, made a 
special address. She noted the sympathetic statements that were 
made in the wake of Matthew Shepard's death but added, "We need 
actions to back up our words."
     
Among several suggestions for actions against hate she 
called for the preparation of a brochure that would list anti-
hate resources for use by individuals or congregations. The 
brochure is now available from the church's Office of Peace and 
Justice Ministries, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017. 
Questions may be directed to Johncy Itty, social justice officer, 
at jitty@dfms.org 

--Kathryn McCormick is associate director of the Office of 
News and Information of the Episcopal Church. The church's Office 
of Government Relations assisted in preparing this article.