Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which would give the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence by providing the department with jurisdiction over crimes of violence where the victim is chosen because of the person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Today, in an effort to bring even more attention to the issue, the Human Rights Campaign released this video featuring Judy Shepard, mother of anti-gay hate crime victim Mathew Shepard. Watch the video, then go here to send a letter to your U.S. Representative to ask him or her to support the Hate Crimes Law that this time does include gender identity.
