The Human Rights Campaign says the hate crime legislation called the Matthew Shepard Act is in serious jeopardy of not making it to the President's desk because some lawmakers and opponents are working to derail it.

Here's the message from HRC's President Joe Solmonese:

"The hate crimes legislation we've fought for has reached its final step before being sent to President Bush, but some lawmakers are working to derail it. Right now there is a very real danger that the Matthew Shepard Act won't even make it to the President for his signature or veto. If that happens, we could lose months or years of progress.

We likely have less than a week to act. Tell your lawmakers the Matthew Shepard Act must not be abandoned by the Conference Committee next week.

How can a hate crimes victory be so close and yet still so much in jeopardy?

Here's what's happening: Senate leadership employed a commonplace strategy with this bill.  They calculated that the only chance of the Matthew Shepard Act surviving Bush's veto pen was if it were attached to a "must-pass" Department of Defense bill. But now that House and Senate are reconciling their versions of the DoD bill, it is under attack from anti-GLBT conservatives against hate crimes legislation, as well as progressive, pro-equality lawmakers who oppose some of the bill's provisions for the war in Iraq.

We cannot let the Matthew Shepard Act be abandoned when we have come so close to getting it to the White House! We only have a matter of days before Congress is back in session and the final decision is made. This issue is especially timely right now. Last week, the FBI reported that hate crimes rose nearly 8% last year.

You know how hard we've worked to pass the Matthew Shepard Act. Since April, hundreds of thousands of HRC supporters like you have bombarded Congress with letters and phone calls. You've enlisted friends in the fight, written to local papers, passed out postcards at events. You've given time and you've given financial support.

Don't back down now – not if you care about the safety of GLBT Americans."

To find out how you can help, go to HRC's web site.

Last update: 11-29-2007 14:25