It took Congress 11 years, but it finally made hate crimes a Federal criminal offense.

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On Thursday Congress finally passed the Mathew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. hate crimes act. "This is a tremendous achievement for civil and human rights," said Jill Moss Greenberg, long time activist and supporter of the ligislation that makes violent hate crimes a criminal federal offense.

The act was named for two victims who died horrible deaths in violence motivated by the sort of hate the legislation outlaws. The new law will enable Federal prosecutors to go after those who commit violence based on sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or gender identity by extending the current hate crimes statute to specifically cover such crimes.

Senators Specter, Levin and Leahy spoke to the press and advocates for the legislation. Levin made it clear that religious leaders can continue to express their beliefs [concerning the morality of behavior protected by the law] as they see fit. The bill only applies to bias-motivated crimes of violence, and includes strong protections of speech and association. President Obama is expected to sign the bill soon.

Source: Jill Greenberg, former Executive Director, National Association for Multicultural Education.

Authors Website: http://rbshreve.com

Authors Bio:

Richmond Shreve is a retired business executive whose careers began in electronics (USN) and broadcasting in the 1960s. Over the years he has maintained a hobby interest in amateur radio, and the audio-visual arts while working in sales and marketing. For the last thirty years he was co-owner and CEO of the Middlebrook Crossroads business park (Edmar Corporation) in Bridgewater, NJ. He holds a lifetime FCC Second Class Commercial license, and an amateur radio General Class license (W2EMU). In 2012 Richmond retired from instructing sports car owners in high performance driving techniques at major tracks including NJ Motorsports Park, Watkins Glen, and Summit Point. He is the author and publisher of the Instructor Candidate Manual used by BMWCCA and other car clubs to train their on-track instructors.

Prior to moving to Newtown,PA, he volunteered as chief engineer of WCFA the Cape May, NJ community radio station as well as working as a gaffer on the Cape May Film Festival technical crew, a driver/engineer in the Cape May Point Volunteer Fire Company, served as its Treasurer and as Treasurer of its Firemen's Relief Association. He edited and printed the Cape May Point Taxpayer's Association Newsletter.

As a computer power user, graphic artist, photographer, and website designer he helps nonprofits build and maintain web sites. He is a fromer Vestry member of the Episcopal Church of the Advent.
Richmond is a citizen journalist and former Senior Editor at OpEdNews.com, a progressive news and opinion site on the internet.

Richmond lives with his wife Marguerite Chandler in Newtown, PA wher he continues to write essays ad short fiction. They travel extensively with their fifth wheel RV.

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Books:
Lost River Anthology (Amazon.com)
Instructor Candidate Manual (LuLu.com)