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ABOVE: Tammy holds a press conference in Washington to introduce bi-partisan health care legislation.
Press Releases :: October 28, 2009
Baldwin Hails Passage of Historic Hate Crimes Legislation
Attends White House Signing Ceremony Today Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin today hailed the enactment of legislation that is the nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to become law. BALDWIN VIDEO STATEMENT URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkSfvpyvBi0
Today, in the East Room of the White House, President Obama signed into law a defense spending bill (H.R. 2647) that included provisions of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. Baldwin joined Matthew’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, and others at the ceremony.
The hate crimes provision included in the bill adds the categories of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to existing protections for bias crimes based on race, color, religion, and national origin. This is also the first federal law to explicitly protect transgender Americans.
“I remember where I was and what was happening when the news of Matthew Shepard’s murder began to circulate,” Baldwin said after the ceremony. “I remember how many people I encountered who felt scared and frightened themselves because such a heinous attack had been perpetrated against him because of his sexual orientation. It is high time that this Act become law. It has been an effort that I’ve worked on ever since I came to the Congress of the United States, and I think it will send a very powerful message,” said Baldwin, Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.
Transcript of Recorded Comments (from video):
“Just moments ago, I returned from the White House, where President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act into law. It was an incredibly moving ceremony—Judy and Dennis Shepard were in the front row watching this historic event. I had the chance to speak with both of them before the ceremony began and to recognize their incredible efforts to make this day possible.
Hate crimes are a particularly horrific type of crime many have characterized as acts of domestic terrorism, because not only is there an immediate victim of violence who’s selected by virtue of a characteristic such as race, or religion, or sexual orientation, or gender identity; but once that crime occurs, it sends a terrorizing message to all who share that characteristic.
I remember where I was and what was happening when the news of Matthew Shepard’s murder began to circulate. I remember how many people I encountered who felt scared and frightened themselves because such a heinous attack had been perpetrated against him because of his sexual orientation. It is high time that this Act become law. It has been an effort that I’ve worked on ever since I came to the Congress of the United States, and I think it will send a very powerful message.
Believe it or not, this is the first piece of legislation dealing with LGBT civil rights ever to be signed into law at the federal level. I do hope it will be the first of many yet to come, so that we are able to achieve full equality in the years and months ahead.”