A number of stories are coming out today marking the President’s signature of the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I’ll add links here as I come across them:
A CNN.com piece on Elke Kennedy who lost her gay son two years ago in a crime of hate:
For Elke Kennedy, the significance of Wednesday’s hate crimes legislation can be traced to a single punch outside a bar on a drunken night two years ago.
“My son was murdered as he was leaving a bar in Greenville, South Carolina,” the 48-year-old woman told CNN about her son, Sean, who was 20 when he came face-to-face with what she calls a hate crime. “He walked outside the bar and there was three people sitting in a car outside and they called him over to ask him for a cigarette.”
A wonderful explanation for why James Byrd, Jr.’s name is also on the hate crimes bill from the Dallas Voice:
The reason, of course, was simple. Although Mrs. Byrd certainly faced discrimination growing up in a small Texas town, this eloquent woman never taught her children to hate and fear. And as an advocate for victim’s rights, she and her family have advocated for everyone equally.
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