Congressional Snafu Snarls Hate Crimes Bill

Any ordinary person can tell you that the way Congress works is confusing as f%@k. That little cartoon about how a bill becomes law that I saw when I was small is complete crap. Things do not work that simply. Due to the messy Congressional conflagration, there will be no Matthew Shepard Act this year which means that the public will get the message that Congress does not want hate crimes legislation extended to the GLBT community.

From RawStory:

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was widely supported by Democrats and some moderate Senate Republicans. But because it was attached to a major defense policy bill that would have authorized more money for the Iraq war, many anti-war Democrats said they would oppose it.

"We don't have the votes," said one House Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because conference negotiations on the defense bill were ongoing. "We're about 40 votes short, not four or six."

The development is a blow to civil rights groups which say that broadening federal laws are necessary to address a rise in crimes motivated by hate and based upon a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

So the bill had widespread approval, yet it failed. It failed because it was attached to a military spending bill and therefore it would be denied ironically by hardcore conservatives and anti-war Democrats alike. Conservatives (at least those ones) do not think gay people deserve to be protected from hate crimes....and while anti-war Democrats are in support of the Matthew Shepard Act, they do not care to fund more missile programs.

So if you want to blame someone, blame Pelosi for not sending the legislation to the floor for a vote. She says she won't give up on it, but in her mind, this isn't the right time. For now though, this is one more hurdle for victims of these hate crimes to get appropriate justice and also keeping the funds out of law agencies hands to prosecute the crimes.