Showing posts with label "HR1913 Hate Crime Prevention Act". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "HR1913 Hate Crime Prevention Act". Show all posts

4/29/09

Republican Congresswoman Foxx (NC) calls Matthew Shepard's brutal murder "a hoax."



Republican Congresswoman Foxx(R)NC said continuing to name a hate crimes bill "The Mathew Shepard Act" is a hoax becuse she said everyone knows he was robbed.

Mathew Shepard's mother was reported to be in the gallery.

Source You Tube Comentary:

"The House Republican chosen to lead the charge against including women, people with disabilities, and gays in America's already-existing hate crimes law - existing law already counts violent crime based on the race, religion or national origin of the victim as a "hate crime" - just referred on the US House floor to Matthew Shepard's murder as "a hoax." Her name is Virginia Foxx, and she's from, of course, North Carolina. At what point will Republicans stop letting their party be lead by bigots and extremists?"

Hate Crimes Bill Passes House of Representatives


April 29, 2009
Source NCTE

Today the United States House of Representatives voted 249 to 175 in favor of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H. R. 1913), moving one step closer to the passage of the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people in a positive way. This bill would add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and would allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government.

"This is a great day for America," commented Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, "as we make a clear statement that all lives are valuable and that no one deserves to be targeted for violence just because they are transgender. It is vital that we make it absolutely clear that violence motivated by bias is not tolerated in our country, because while this is a victory, the true victory will come when everyone is genuinely free from violence and discrimination. That's what we are working for."

Transgender people continue to be disproportionately targeted for bias motivated violence and thirteen states and Washington, DC have laws which include transgender people in state hate crimes laws.

What you can do

Contact your Senators' offices and ask for their support for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, which was introduced yesterday by Senator Edward Kennedy.

NCTE

On the web

Dallas Voice Blog "Instant Tea" Hate Crimes bill passes in the House

4/28/09

Letter From Transgender Faith Leaders in Support of an Inclusive Federal Hate Crimes Bill(HR1913)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Dear Decision-maker,

We the under-signed support an inclusive federal hate crimes bill (HR 1913) because we think it is good for the community to take seriously crimes such as the brutal murder of Angie Zapata in Colorado this past year. Reflecting upon the past weeks of Allen Andrade’s court trial, we are grateful for responsible investigators, prosecutors, and a jury who invalidated a harmful and re-victimizing “trans-panic” defense. No one is responsible for their own beating, bashing or killing. When some people are especially targeted for being different or for being queer, it makes sense that the community will act to especially protect them.

We wish that such a law could have protected Angie before her death. But in reality a great number of supports in a community are needed to reduce our vulnerability – namely, social and economic justice for all.

The ‘guilty’ verdict reached in a court of law dignified, but could never repair, the value of Angie’s life and the gravity of her loss. Yet, our experience in ministries that work toward nonviolent alternatives, reintegration and rehabilitation of offenders does not allow us to believe we can achieve safety by disposing of people behind bars. They are still with us. They are still part of us. We will be praying for the gay men and transgender inmates who face violence while they serve their time, who may even be serving their time in the same facilities as Allen Andrade. We will be praying for Allen as well, now cut off from the prospect of wholeness and reintegration with his community.

We who lead faith traditions hold to a story of justice that does not end with retribution, but rather with restoration. In the struggle against violence and deprivation, we applaud not only the work of the National Center for Transgender Equality to raise specific issues like hate crimes law, but also the work of Senator Webb (S.714) in raising a commission to address a general issue: criminal justice reform. It is high time.

We support legislation today that honors human dignity and possibility. Diversity is a fact of God’s creation -- except for poverty, which is our own creation. Where there is personal or systemic hate and disregard, we urge lawmakers to respond. Not only with indignation but with moral imagination.

Sincerely,

•The Rev. Malcolm Himschoot (Commerce City, CO)
United Church of Christ

•Nicole Garcia (Louisville, CO)
Transgender Representative, Lutherans Concerned/North America

•Mr. Barb Greve (Hamden, CT)
Co-Founder, Transgender Religious Professional Unitarian Universalists Together

•Rabbi Levi Alter (Malibu, CA)
President, Female-To-Male International (Human Rights Gender Non-Discrimination Organization)

•The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge (Allston, MA)
Priest, St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Co-Chair Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality, TransEpiscopal

•The Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek (Spring Arbor, MI),
Co-Director of Michigan Equality

•Chris Paige (Philadelphia, PA)
Founder, TransFaith Online

•Seth Donovan (Denver, CO)
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Full Inclusion Committee

•The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison (Salt Lake City, UT)
South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society

•Barbara Satin (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN)
Executive Council, United Church of Christ and Institute of Welcoming Resources and Faithworks Associate of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

•Noach Dzmura (Berkeley, CA)
Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity

•Senior Minister Carmarion D. Anderson (Dallas, TX)
Living Faith Covenant Church

•Minister Monica Joy Cross (Berkeley, CA)
Pacific School of Religion

•Angel Celeste Collie (Chapel Hill, NC)
Metropolitan Community Church

•Rabbi Elliot Kukla (San Francisco, CA)
•The Rev. Megan Rohrer (San Francisco, CA)
Director, The Welcome Ministry

•Richard Juang (Cambridge, MA)
Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality

•Rebecca Anne Allison, MD (Phoenix, AZ)
President-Elect, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, United Church of Christ

•The Rev. Pat Conover (Silver Spring, MD)
Minister, United Church of Christ
Steward, Seekers Church

•The Rev. Allyson Robinson (Gaithersburg, MD)
Associate Director of Diversity, Human Rights Campaign, Alliance of Baptists

•Jakob Hero (Berkeley, CA)
Pacific School of Religion

•Kate Bowman (Denver, CO)
Board Chair, The Gender Identity Center of Colorado

•The Rev. Vicky Kolakowski (Berkeley, CA)
New Spirit Community Church

•The Rev. Paul Langston-Daley (Glendale, AZ)
Minister, West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

•The Rev. Michelle Hansen, S.T.M., M.Div. (Waterbury CT)
Episcopal Priest (Retired), TransEpiscopal, Treasurer and Moderator of the Twenty Club

•Aidan Dunn (San Francisco, CA)
Stanford University

•Joanne Herman (Boston, MA)
Old South Church, United Church of Christ

•The Rev. G Green (Kenosha, WI)
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

•Ari Lev Fornari (Boston, MA)
Rabbinical Student

•Diane DeLap (Wilmington, MA)
Co-Spokesperson, Affirmation: United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns

•The Rev. Sarah J. Flynn (Burlington, VT)
All Souls Ministry, American Catholic Church of New England

•The Rev. Dr. Erin K. Swenson (Atlanta, GA)
Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Presbyterian Church, USA

•The Rev. Sky Anderson (San Jose, CA)
Minister of Community Life, M.C.C. (Metropolitan Community Church)

•The Rt. Rev. Dr. Lynn Elizabeth Walker (Brooklyn, NY)
Orthodox Catholic Church of America

•Kelli Anne Busey (Dallas, TX)
Metropolitan Community Church

•Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott (Paterson, NJ)
Professor Emeritus at William Paterson University and founding memer of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus

•Mycroft Masada Holmes (Boston, MA)
Co-Chair, Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality
Chair, Keshet Transgender Working Group (TWiG)

•The Rev. Rik Fire (Warminster, PA)
Ecumenicon Fellowship

•The Rev. Laurie J. Auffant (Lowell, MA)
Unitarian Universalist Association

•Reuben Zellman (San Francisco, CA)

•Stephanie C. Battaglino (Cliffside Park, NJ)
Commissioner, The Oasis - the LGBTi Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, NJ

•Donna M. Cartwright (Baltimore, MD)
TransEpiscopal

•Kate Bornstein (New York City, NY)
Buddhist

•Woody Camacho (San José, CA)
The Metropolitan Community Church of San José

•The Rev. Jay Wilson (San Fransisco, CA)
The Welcome Ministry & Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

•Jeremiah Gold-Hopton (Atlanta, GA)
Worship Ministry, Northwest (Atlanta) UU Congregation

•Randall E. Klein (Walnut Creek, CA)
Founder, Light in the Closet Ministry, Hillside Covenant Church

•The Rev. Jake Kopmeier (St. Petersburg, FL)
King of Peace MCC

•Jake Nash (Cleveland, OH)
Minister of Worship, Emmanuel Fellowship Church
Executive Director, TranFamily of Cleveland

•Lauryn Farris (San Antonio, TX)
Lay Leader, United Church of Christ
President, San Antonio Gender Association

•Joni Christian (Kent, OH)
Visionary Kent UCC

•Elder Andrea' V. Boisseau AIS (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

•Elder Sara Herwig (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

•Elder Alanna Block-Butler (Waltham, MA)
First Presbyterian Church Of Waltham

Institutions are included for identification purposes only.

4/8/09

'planetransgender' Covers Angie Zapata Murder Trial

Angie Zapata, companion and gentle soul met her violent death alone and without hope at the hands of confessed killer and gang member Allen Andrade on July 16, 2008.



Planetransgender has been given permission to re-post word for word the news as written and published by Autumn Sandeen, who will be in Colorado to cover the trial.

Autumn Sandeen transgender activist, is a distinguished and respected writer, contributing author at Pams House Blend, the only LGBT blog to be credentialed for the 2008 DNC, Transgender News and Transadvocate. Autumn honors us to be a friend and member of the Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies(DTAA)..

Beyond the emotional envelopment of this tragedy lie's deeper truths. Miss Angie's murder trial which begins Tuesday, April 14th, will mark the first time ever, an anti-transgender murder will be prosecuted as a hate crime in the United States.

We are murdered at an estimated rate of 1 in 12 obstinately because of our gender expression.

Law enforcement presently does not have the tools to identify and report hate crimes committed against transgender people and lawyers and judges do not have the laws that will allow prosecution for hate crimes without risking a conviction.

Tell your Legislators to support HR1913 Hate Crime Prevention Act" which was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last week. HR1913 is expected to be introduced in the Senate within the next couple of weeks, this trial is a timely reminder of the need for federal hate crimes legislation.

By kelli Busey
planetransgender
April 8, 2009

on the web

PageOneQ; Angie Zapata's killer confessed to first-degree murder as a hate crime

Angie Zapata's accused killer to be tried for for 1st degree murder

Angie Zapata's Life and Death : changed how we are treated

Angie Zapata Trial : Andrade's Murder Confession Thrown Out

Trial dates have been set for the murder of Angie Zapata.

Senator Renfroe : Respect Justice During Angie Zapata's Murder Trial



4/7/09

Tell Your Senator and Representative to Pass "HR1913 Hate Crime Prevention Act"



Let Your Representatives Know You Care about Hate Crimes Legislation!

Take Action!


Representative John Conyers (D-MI) along with 42 original co-sponsors re-introduced the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act - H.R. 1913. It is a transgender inclusive bill identical to the hate crimes legislation passed by the House of Representatives in 2007.

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would add sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to existing federal hate crimes laws. It would also strengthen enforcement of these laws by allowing the US Department of Justice to assist local authorities in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes cases.

When introducing the bill, Representative Conyers stated that the legislation "provides a constructive and measured response to a problem that continues to plague our nation. These are crimes that shock and shame our national conscience. They should be subject to comprehensive federal law enforcement assistance and prosecution."

Email Your Representative Today!
We urge you to write your Representatives and encourage them to support this critical piece of legislation. Those who oppose this legislation are taking advantage of this time to reach out to their representatives - it is important that we are equally active, sharing our stories with our Congress members. Please email your Representative, and take this important step to help address the violence our LGBT loved ones face