Bush May Veto Hate Crimes Bill

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today the House will vote on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, which would include violence against people based on their sexuality in current hate crimes legislation, and president Bush has already said he may veto the measure.

The White House issued a statement Thursday saying that if the bill passes the House and Senate, the President would likely veto it, "The Administration favors strong criminal penalties for violent crime, including crime based on personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion, or national origin.

"However, the Administration believes that H.R. 1592 is unnecessary and constitutionally questionable."

The White House said state and local criminal laws already provide penalties for the crimes defined by the bill and 'there has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.'

It also questioned the constitutionality of federalizing the acts of violence barred by the bill.

The religious right has been spreading misinformation to defeat the bill. The American Family Association sent an alert to thousands of its members calling on them to email and phone the White House to call for a veto.

"The Hate Crimes Act criminalizes a vast array of state and local acts and threatens religious leaders with criminal prosecution for their thoughts, beliefs, and statements," AFA claims.

Matthew Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard published an article in The Politico today to combat the "bald-face lies" of the religious fundamentalists.

"One group spreading misinformation to its membership -- the so-called Traditional Values Coalition -- has even gone so far as to put a picture of Jesus on a 'wanted' poster, implying that religious people who speak out against homosexuality could become the targets of criminal investigations. Obviously, that's just not true.

"The people spreading this type of propaganda are blatantly lying to their members out of fear that the federal government might finally legislatively recognize that gay Americans exist, and need the same rights and protections the rest of us take for granted.

"Even worse, the Traditional Values Coalition is misleading and manipulating its members to make these phone calls to Congress, even when they know in their hearts that they are spreading lies. This type of behavior has nothing to do with real traditional values," Shepard wrote.

The Shepard Act, also called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, would allow the Department of Justice to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs against people based on their sexuality.

FBI statistics show that one in six hate crimes is motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation.

Although the bill has bi-partisan support, it may not have a enough support to override a veto from the President.

In addition to having support from most LGBT civil rights groups, the measure has been endorsed by more than 210 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations, including: the National Sheriffs' Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.