Family Of Murdered Greenville Man In Washington For Hate Crime Legislation Signing

Update 10/28/09 4pm

After a decade of debate, persistent advocacy and 14 separate congressional floor votes, President Barack Obama Wednesday signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in a White House ceremony attended by the Shepard and Byrd families.

“When Dennis and I started calling 10 years ago for federal action to prevent and properly prosecute hate crimes against gay, lesbian and transgendered Americans, we never imagined it would take this long,” said Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother and the president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board of Directors.

The legislation allows federal authorities to pursue charges in violent crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability, in cases where local authorities cannot or will not secure appropriate convictions. It also opens up federal aid to local law enforcement for training, prevention and investigation.

“We are incredibly grateful to Congress and the president for taking this step forward on behalf of hate crime victims and their families, especially given the continuing attacks on people simply for living their lives openly and honestly,” Shepard added. “But each of us can and must do much more to ensure true equality for all Americans.”

Opponents of the expanded hate crimes bill say there is no need to specify one particular community in federal legislation.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that any federal hate-crimes law would be used only to prosecute violent acts based on bias, as opposed to the prosecution of speech based on controversial racial or religious beliefs.

More than 77,000 hate crime incidents were reported by the FBI between 1998 and 2007.

Update 10/27/09 5pm
On Tuesday night the mother who said her son was beaten to death for being gay is went to Washington D.C. Elke Kennedy and her husband have received an invitation to the White House as President Obama signs a hate crime prevention act on Wednesday.
Sean Kennedy died after being punched outside a Greenville bar in May 2007.
Stephen Moller was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Sean Kennedy and sentenced to five years in prison, which was suspended to 3 years plus probation time.
Elke Kennedy said it's an honor to be invited to the White House, and she's representing many.
"We're not going up there just for ourselves. We're going up there as a voice for all of those people who have been murdered during the last 10 to 12 years and we're going up there for the kids who are fighting the bullying, the hatred and the violence."