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Council Chair Vincent Gray (D-At-Large) introduced a ‘sense of the Council’ resolution last month condemning hate crimes in the city. (Blade photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
By unanimous vote, the D.C. City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning hate crimes in the city, calling them “acts of subtle and overt racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and ethnic bigotry.”
The “sense of the Council” resolution, which was introduced last month by Council Chair Vincent Gray (D-At-Large), was sponsored jointly by the entire 13-member Council and was aimed at drawing more attention to what Gray called a serious, ongoing problem in the city and the nation. D.C. police have said anti-gay hate crimes make up a substantial part of the overall number of hate crimes reported in the District each year.
“[O]ver the past two years, 75 reported hate crimes have been committed in the District of Columbia, in addition to numerous other crimes that have occurred citywide, but not reported as hate crimes,” the resolution says. “[T]hese crimes are considered unacceptable and offensive to every resident of the District of Columbia and we commend the Metropolitan Police Department for their efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute those who commit these awful crimes of hate,” the resolution says. “[W]e call upon our schools to teach and empower our children to respect the differences that makes us a world class and diverse city, and more importantly, teach them to understand and honor those differences,” the resolution says.
In 1989, the Council passed one of the nation’s most far-reaching hate crimes laws that calls for penalties and prison terms 1.5 times higher than the maximum sentence for other offenses for persons convicted of committing a hate crime. The law initially covered hate crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation, race, religion and ethnicity among its provisions. Last year, the Council added the term gender identity to the law, which covers transgender persons.
Gay activist Peter Rosenstein, who was among 10 individuals and local groups that asked the Council to approve the resolution, said he was prompted to push for the symbolic measure after reading about an incident in January in which anti-gay graffiti was found scrawled in a bathroom stall at the Fifth District police station in Northeast D.C. Police have yet to identify the person or persons responsible for writing the anti-gay graffiti.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
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