[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 148 (Friday, October 16, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SENSE OF THE HOUSE REGARDING MURDER OF MATTHEW SHEPARD

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 15, 1998

  Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues and the good 
people of the state of Wyoming in mourning a young man whose life was 
senselessly and brutally cut short by hatred and ignorance.
  Matthew Shepard had many fine qualities. He was thoughtful and 
idealistic. He had ambitions for public service. And had hoped one day 
to serve his country overseas.
  He was also gay. And that is why he was beaten to death and left to 
die.
  Matthew Shepard will never fulfill his youthful ambition. We will 
never know what he might have accomplished with his life. He is gone, 
and we can do nothing to change that.
  But we can do something to help make sure that there are no more 
murders on the road to Laramie.
  We can do something to help put a stop to racial killings in Jasper, 
Texas, where James Byrd was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to 
his death last summer.
  We can send a message to the cities and towns across America where 
hate-motivated violence and harassment occurs every day. We can and 
must pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
  Over the last few days, we have heard some people deplore these 
incidents--while cautioning us not to pass new laws to deal with them. 
``New laws won't stop hate,'' they tell us.
  They're right. No law ever stopped murder, rape, arson or other 
heinous crimes. Yet our society keeps these laws on the books. To 
punish those practices and express its disapproval of them.
  Why do we need the Hate Crimes Prevention Act? Consider two vignettes 
from today's New York Times:

       Last Saturday morning, while Matthew Shepard lay comatose 
     from a beating, a college homecoming parade passed a few 
     blocks from his hospital bed in Ford Collins. Propped on a 
     fraternity float was a straw-haired scarecrow, labeled in 
     black spray paint. ``I'm Gay.''
       On Monday, hours after Shepard's death, two gay 
     organizations [in Fort Collins] . . . received identical 
     messages applauding Shepard's murder. The messages closed 
     with the words: ``I hope it happens more often.''

  That's why we need the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. For all the 
Matthew Shepards and the James Byrds who can still be saved.

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