WASHINGTON DC - Assaulting people because of their sexual orientation would become a federal hate crime in legislation the House voted on Thursday. The bill would significantly expand the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968.
Should the Senate also approve the bill, federal prosecutors will for the first time be able to intervene in cases of violence perpetrated against people based on their sexual orientation or "gender identity." President Obama is a strong supporter of the hate crimes legislation.
Civil rights groups and their Democratic allies have been trying for decades to broaden the reach of hate crimes law. "It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying hate crimes legislation was on her agenda when she first entered Congress 22 years ago. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was a longtime advocate of the legislation.
Thanks to the Associated Press
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