Do not misunderstand. I am thrilled that the federal government has finally signed a hate crimes bill into law that affords GLBT citizens the same hate crimes protections that others - inckluding our enemies among the Christian Right - have enjoyed for years. Sadly, however, the new protections only kick in once one has been the victim of anti-gay violence. In the majority of states, we can still be fired at will, subjected to discrimination in housing and a host of other areas of daily life, and our relationships are ignored or denied any legal status. The Washington Post has a column that looks at this sad reality and ask the question of why can't Congress act to protect us BEFORE we have been hurt and brutalized. It is a valid question and one that makes the recently passed hate crimes legislation appear to be a less than major victory in relative terms. Will this new federal legislation break the log jam and induce Congress to act on ENDA and the repeal of DOMA and DADT? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, the USA slips further down the list of progressive countries. Here are some column highlights:*
When President Obama signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law Wednesday, human rights advocates across the country won a decent, but insufficient, victory. At face value, the bill is but a reluctant acknowledgment that Americans assaulted because of their sexual orientation are indeed victims of bigotry. Adding insult to injury, the measure had to be attached to a defense spending bill just to pass. Is this the best Congress can muster when it comes to advancing gay rights?
*
Such legislation will not bring back to life Matthew Shepard or James Byrd Jr., the slain men for whom the act is named. Nor will it make Jack Price -- the gay New Yorker beaten nearly to death this month -- any less battered. The law morbidly protects gays only after they have been attacked; any consideration for their safety and human rights before such an occurrence still seems a congressional afterthought.
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Put another way, our nation's dead and hospitalized homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people are receiving after-the-fact sympathies, while the healthy gays and lesbians among us are expected to suffer from the same root discrimination. Are rights advocates expected to remain patient, even happy, about such progress?
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It is wrong to ask gay Americans to wait until every future war is won, every societal ill is treated and every business is booming before being granted equal protection under law; it is equally disturbing to think that today, one must be a victim of a hate crime before receiving such consideration. Is it too much to ask for more, sooner rather than later?
When President Obama signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law Wednesday, human rights advocates across the country won a decent, but insufficient, victory. At face value, the bill is but a reluctant acknowledgment that Americans assaulted because of their sexual orientation are indeed victims of bigotry. Adding insult to injury, the measure had to be attached to a defense spending bill just to pass. Is this the best Congress can muster when it comes to advancing gay rights?
*
Such legislation will not bring back to life Matthew Shepard or James Byrd Jr., the slain men for whom the act is named. Nor will it make Jack Price -- the gay New Yorker beaten nearly to death this month -- any less battered. The law morbidly protects gays only after they have been attacked; any consideration for their safety and human rights before such an occurrence still seems a congressional afterthought.
*
Put another way, our nation's dead and hospitalized homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people are receiving after-the-fact sympathies, while the healthy gays and lesbians among us are expected to suffer from the same root discrimination. Are rights advocates expected to remain patient, even happy, about such progress?
*
It is wrong to ask gay Americans to wait until every future war is won, every societal ill is treated and every business is booming before being granted equal protection under law; it is equally disturbing to think that today, one must be a victim of a hate crime before receiving such consideration. Is it too much to ask for more, sooner rather than later?
*
I agree with the column's author completely and I hope all readers in the USA will contact their members of Congress and demand that ENDA and the repeal of DOMA and DADT move forward NOW - not sometime in the future when "convenient."
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