Description of U.S. hate crime
legislation, from all viewpoints
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Status of the 2009 federal hate crimes bill:
A hate crime is a crime of violence that is motivated by
hatred of the group to which the victim belongs. Usually, the perpetrator and the victim are strangers to each other. For example, gay bashing involves a violent homophobe
physically attacking a victim from the lesbian,
gay, and bisexual community. Typically, the goal is twofold:
To express hatred against a random member of that community, and
To terrorize the entire community of which the victim is a
member.
Many persons, often conservatives, feel that the perpetrator
should be penalized according to the injuries sustained by the victim.
After a decade of struggle, an inclusive hate crimes bill was
successful. The bill passed the federal House and Senate on 2009-OCT-22.
President Obama signed it into law on 2009-OCT-28.
It will help protect
every person in the U.S. from being the victim of a hate crime in eight
separate ways, on the basis of their:
Race,
Color,
Religion,
National origin,
Gender, whether female, male or intersexual,
Disability,
Sexual orientation, whether they be bisexual, homosexual, or
heterosexual, and