Finally…after 11 years

Being completely incapacitated by a nasty bug the last few days, it felt good to come out of the slumber and see the image of President Obama signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Many of us still remember the two brutal murders from 11 years ago that led to this landmark legislation. On June 7, 1998, in Jasper, Texas, three white men chained an African American named James Byrd to a pickup truck and dragged him to his death. Then, on October 7 of that year, two men beat up Matthew Shepard, a gay young college student, and left him to die while tied to a fence.

It’s still unbelievable that it has taken over 10 years for this important legislation to pass – thanks to Republican opposition and numerous veto threats from Bush over the years. And, not to mention the Traditional Values Coalition stating that the legislation would turn “homosexual behaviors as well as cross-dressing, transvestism, and transsexualism into federally-protected ‘minority’ groups.”

Nevertheless, yesterday was a landmark victory in ensuring equal protection under the law, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, gender identification, disability, race, etc. Yesterday, during the signing ceremony, President Obama also called out those who worked hard to get this legislation passed, the late President Edward Kennedy and Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, who was at the ceremony with her husband. After her son’s death, Judy Shepard spent the next ten years fighting tirelessy to get this legislation authored and passed. During this time, she and her family also set up The Matthew Shepard Foundation, whose mission is to support diversity programs in education and to help youth organizations establish environments where young people can feel safe and be themselves. Judy has also just published a book, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed, which recounts her son’s life along with gruesome death, followed by a chapter on her unexpected entry into the activist role. Judy truly is a hero and her book is worth a read!

In addition, the family of James Byrd Jr. has also used their tragedy to try and heal and educate by establishing the James Byrd Jr. Foundation for Racial Healing, which conducts diversity workshops, awards scholarships to students of color and helped pass a hate crime bill in Texas. The foundation also runs an oral history project which has collected over 2,600 people’s experiences of racism.

Now, can we please get some decent health care legislation passed, maybe in time for the new decade??