‘After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are,’ President Obama said during a Wednesday reception at the White House. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Oct 28 2009, 2:46 PM  |     |     |  
UPDATED: Oct 2, 11:04 AM

Flanked by Defense Department officials and members of Congress, President Obama on Wednesday signed into law an LGBT hate crimes measure as part of a massive Pentagon spending bill.

“After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House.

Obama signed the measure, known as the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization Act. The law allows the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories.

After signing the law, Obama remarked, “There you go,” and shook hands with Judy and Dennis Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was murdered in 1998 because of his sexual orientation.

Also in the audience to witness the signing were Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign; Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who introduced the hate crimes amendment that was adopted into the defense bill; and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who worked for more than a decade to pass the legislation before his death.

Solmonese said in an interview that the bill is significant because it “sends a very important message” and shows that the Obama administration has “a vision for this country that includes LGBT people.”

“But on a practical note, I always like to stress that this legislation is a reaction to a real need — a need that was put forth by local enforcement,” he said. “We hear from people working in local law enforcement about their genuine desire to have this legislation enacted so that they … draw on the federal resources that they would have in other sorts of crimes that are committed against whole communities of people.”

The measure becomes the first significant federal law on the books specifically aimed at LGBT people. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990 required the U.S. attorney to collect data on bias-motivated violent crimes committed against gays, but didn’t provide any authority for the Justice Department to prosecute such violence.

“It is notable that we’re passing something that … most people out there when you talk to them think, ‘My God, that hasn’t happened yet,’” Solmonese said. “It’s important and it’s long overdue and for so many people in this country, unfortunately, it is still a piece of legislation that is needed.”

Trevor Thomas, an HRC spokesperson, said the law takes effect immediately and the Justice Department now has the authority to investigate suspected hate crimes, but the attorney general also must work on issuing guidance, which should be completed in a few weeks.

Obama elaborated on the importance of enacting the law in a speech at a White House reception later Wednesday before an audience of about 200 LGBT activists. He was flanked by Judy, Dennis and Logan Shepard as well as the sisters of James Byrd, a black man killed in a 1998 hate crime in Texas. The president acknowledged those who had worked on passing the measure for more than a decade.

“You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear,” he said. “You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights — both from unjust laws and violent acts. And you understand how necessary this law continues to be.”

The president said FBI data from the most recently reported year shows there were around 7,600 hate crimes in the country — and that over the last 10 years, more than 12,000 reported hate crimes were committed on the basis of sexual orientation alone.

“No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love — no one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability,” he said. “At root, this isn't just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another — whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus.”

Recalling the gruesome details of Shepard’s 1998 murder, Obama said, “It's hard for any of us to imagine the mindset of someone who would kidnap a young man and beat him to within an inch of his life, tie him to a fence, and leave him for dead.”

“But we sense where such cruelty begins,” he said. “The moment we fail to see in another our common humanity — the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same fears and hopes, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share.”

Obama recalled that former President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 signed the first version of federal hate crimes legislation, which provided protections on the basis on race or religion. At the time, Johnson said, “The bells of freedom ring out a little louder.”

“But because of the efforts of the folks in this room — particularly those family members who are standing behind me — we can be proud that that bell rings even louder now and each day grows louder still,” Obama said.

Solmonese said Obama was key in shepherding the hate crimes law through Congress — after more than a decade of stagnation — and was helpful in implementing the strategy of attaching the measure as an amendment to the defense law.

“Had it been a free-standing bill, who knows what would’ve happened,” Solmonese said. “That is where in trying to figure out that strategy in the Senate and sending a message to key senators and the leadership that unequivocally this president expected to see that bill on his desk this fall — and that he would do whatever it took to be a partner with the leadership of the Senate to make sure that got done — that was hugely important.”

The decision to attach the hate crimes measure to the Pentagon bill came about after significant discussion among lawmakers, Solmonese said.

“I remember at one point I had said that I wanted the hate crimes bill to be passed in the Senate in the first six months of the Obama administration,” he said. “And I remember Sen. [Harry] Reid looking at me and saying, ‘Do you want it done fast or want it done right?’ You’ll be happy to know I picked right.”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who will execute the law on behalf of Obama, spoke favorably about the new statute, according to Politico. Following the signing of the law, he reportedly called the hate crimes law “the next great civil rights bill.”

"This is a great tool for the Justice Department, and I think significantly improves the quality of life for people with disabilities, for women and for gay and lesbian Americans,” Holder was quoted as saying. “This is a great — great day — and it was too long coming.”

Holder attended Wednesday’s reception at the White House, which was sponsored by the David Bohnett Foundation.

David O'Malley, a former police official who headed the investigation into Matthew Shepard's murder in 1998, was also present at the reception following the signing. A longtime supporter of enacting the statute, O'Malley spoke favorably about the new law.

"This is a phenomenal feeling to be able to be here,” he said. “It's been 11 years. Nobody ever gave up; nobody ever quit. They just kept working hard toward getting a bill that would work and it's worked. And I'm just excited about it. This brings new meaning to equal protection under the law.”

The new law survived many twists and turns in Congress over 10 years. In July, the Senate adopted to the hate crimes measure an amendment, sponsored by Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), requiring the attorney general to issue guidelines on what the Justice Department would consider hate crimes before they can be prosecuted.

While Congress was debating the legislation in conference committee last month, Allison Herwitt, HRC’s legislative director, sent an open letter to lawmakers saying the amendment “threatens to inject politics into the Justice Department decision-making process in these cases.”

“Members should be especially concerned that this additional attorney general guidance could vary from administration to administration, resulting in uncertainty and, possibly, an unequal application of this important law,” she wrote.

But Leahy disputed the notion that the amendment would have a significant impact on implementing the law during a press conference last week on Capitol Hill.

“I’m going to work with Eric Holder on this,” he said. “He feels strongly as I do that hate crimes should be prosecuted. … It’s not a Democrat or Republican Justice Department. It’s there for all of us. I have every confidence that Attorney General Holder will make sure that it’s there for all of us and that it reflects the intent, the very clear intent, of those who drafted the laws.”

Solmonese also said he doesn’t think the amendment would have an impact on executing the law because civil rights and legal experts, noting those “who have looked at this [law] seem to think it’s not a problem.”

But even with the hate crimes measure enacted, Solmonese said he doesn’t see an end to bias-motivated violence across the country, and said work is needed to prevent such violence from occurring.

“It does not change the fact that we have to continue to do the work and continue to really change hearts and minds in this country and educate people about the need to erase hate,” he said.

While that work continues, Solmonese said he thinks the passage of the hate crimes protection measure will generate momentum for the passage of further legislation and predicted more victories.

“The debate and the process, while difficult, and while it took a few more months than I thought it would, I think our advocates emerged from these sites in the House and the Senate more proud and more empowered than ever before,” he said.

Richard Socarides, a New York attorney who was an adviser to former President Clinton, attended the reception and also said he thinks the enactment of the hate crimes law is “momentum in the right direction” that will lead to passing other laws.

“I think this was obviously the easiest thing to do in the group of things we want done right away,” he said. “The president deserves a lot of credit for giving it the final push, but this — we have to work very hard on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ we have to work very hard on marriage equality. Nobody will get a pass just because the hate crimes law is now signed into law.”

Solmonese predicted the enactment of the hate crimes law would speed up the process of acting on bills, particularly in the House.

“One of the things that I hope people are beginning to see is that it is a much more straight-forward process to move a bill through the House,” he said. “We moved hate crimes as a free-standing bill in the spring, and I suspect we’ll move the Employment Non-Discrimination Act later this year. I think the same would be true for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’”

But Solmonese predicted the process for these bills in the Senate would be more difficult, noting “any one member of the Senate can have a great deal of influence in derailing or altering a bill.”

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