IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED — HOUSE VOTE TODAY on HOUSE VOTE TODAY on TRANS-INCLUSIVE HATE CRIMES BILL

Urge Your Representative to Vote for the Hate Crimes Amendment to the Children's Safety Act TODAY

An amendment to the Children’s Safety Act (H.R. 3132) may be offered TODAY, which would add the trans-inclusive hate crimes bill. It is critical that Representatives hear from constituents via email/calls/fax immediately. Debate on the bill just began, and a vote on the amendment may occur within hours.

Amendment 25 is actually the text of the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 2662, which was reintroduced in the House of Representatives in May. This bill would extend existing hate crimes laws that already cover crimes motivated by race, color, national origin and religion to include crimes based on actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity (including gender-related characteristics). New gender identity/characteristics language was added to this bill this year to make clear that anti-transgender crimes are covered. The amendment uses the full language from the bill.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force worked closely with the lead sponsors and allies on this legislation to make sure that anti-transgender crimes were more clearly covered by this bill. Violence against transgender people is widespread and largely under-reported. The amendment will give local law enforcement agencies the tools they need from the federal government to combat hate crimes against everyone in the LGBT community.

Important Note: The larger bill to which these amendments are being attached is not a bill that we support for various privacy and social justice reasons. It appears, however, to be a bill that will nonetheless easily pass the House. Regardless of how bad the underlying bill is and whether it becomes law, this is a great opportunity to have a first-ever positive vote on a transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill..

Please CALL or FAX your Representative IMMEDIATELY:

CALL with this message:

"Please let the Representative know that I am a constituent and I strongly support the Hate Crimes Amendment to the Children's Safety Act, Amendment 25."

Call (202) 224-3121, and ask to be transferred to your Representative (give them your address and they will connect you).

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to vote for the Hate Crimes Amendment to the Children's Safety Act, which is Amendment 25. Amendment 25 is the language of H.R. 2662, the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, that was re-introduced in May under the leadership of Representatives Conyers, Ros-Lehtinen, Shays, Frank and Baldwin.

Amendment 25 would give local law enforcement an extra tool to prosecute crime--assistance of the federal government--when state and local authorities need financial or technical help to investigate or prosecute crimes. And, when local or state officials are not taking hate crimes seriously, the federal government can take action to investigate or prosecute crimes. This lack of understanding illustrates the need for a federal backstop for state and local authorities, particularly in cases where the local law enforcement authorities exhibit intolerance or fail to investigate or prosecute cases of any hate crime.

Current hate crimes law permits federal prosecution of a hate crime if the crime was motivated by bias based on race, religion, national origin, or color, and because the victim was exercising a "federally protected right" (e.g. voting, attending school, etc.). Amendment 25 removes the outdated federally protected activity requirement, allowing the federal government to partner with state and local officials in combating serious hate crimes involving death and bodily injury. The amendment updates the list of covered categories to include actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability.

Hate crimes motivated by bias against the victim's perceived sexual orientation are the largest reported category of hate crimes after race-based and religion-based crimes.

I urge you to vote for Amendment 25 to help combat hate crimes.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
September 14, 2005