Hate Crimes

In response to the brutal murder of Mathew Shepard over the weekend, the Hotline invites you to join us in an e-mail campaign designed to pressure the Federal and State Governments to pass their hate crimes bills. I realize that not everyone accepts Homosexuality or is comfortable extending benefits to this group. However, one does not have to like or support Homosexuals to support Hate Crime legislation. One function of the law is to deter crimes. Making gay bashing and murder a hate crime is needed to fix the fact that the normal criminal laws are not deterring anti-gay violence. Something in society is making these people think that it's okay to kill gays. In their mind it's an act to be proud of and possibly even a "Patriotic" act. No-one in this country deserves to be attacked and killed no matter how unpopular that they are. You don't have to like or support a group to know that they have the right to exist and believe what they will. That is the essence of what America is... our "melting pot". What we are asking for is not a "special right. EVERYONE has the right to LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Adding sexual orientation to the hate crimes laws will help that become a reality for the gay and lesbian community.

The pending bills are:

Federal House: HR 3081
Michigan House Bill # 4674

Though neither the Federal or State Senate has legislation to add sexual orientation to the existing hate crime laws pending, please encourage your senators to introduce such legislation

Your Representatives can be contacted via the web at:
Michigan House: http://www.house.state.mi.us/locate.html
Michigan Senate: http://www.state.mi.us/senate/

Federal House: http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/house.html
Federal Senate: http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/senators.html


To find our more ways to get involved, visit the Official Mathew Shepard Site



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