[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, we are all part of a larger community. If 
the rights of one are endangered, then everyone's rights are 
endangered. That is why we must be concerned that across the country 
incidents of hate crimes continue to rise. The San Francisco Bay area, 
my own backyard, reported more than 357 hate crimes last year. This is 
up from 317 in the year 2001. Last fall a transgender teenager, a 17-
year-old, from Silicon Valley was murdered by four acquaintances. 
Earlier this month, the body of a 30-year-old bisexual man was found 
buried in a shallow grave in Monterey County.
  We must stop this. We must work for tougher legislation to protect 
those targeted for hate crimes. And we can do this by passing a Federal 
hate crimes law to protect all Americans. No one in America should live 
in fear because of his or her ethnic background, religious affiliation, 
gender, disability, or sexual preference. That is why it is important 
to pass meaningful hate crimes legislation and pass it now. We need to 
strengthen our existing laws to protect people against all hate crimes. 
We must send a message to all Americans that hateful behavior is wrong 
and will not be tolerated in our Nation. Our law enforcement officials 
need vigorous tools to fight and prosecute hate crimes because existing 
Federal law is inadequate.
  That is why I have been, and will continue to be, a strong supporter 
of the gentleman from Michigan's (Mr. Conyers) Local Law Enforcement 
Hate Crimes Prevention Act. With this bill, for the first time under 
Federal law, sexual orientation, gender, and disability would be added 
to the list of categories covered by Federal civil rights laws. In 
addition, Mr. Speaker, it would expand Federal civil rights laws to 
allow prosecution of hate crimes even if the event did not occur during 
a federally protected activity such as while voting or attending 
school. Also, the hate crimes bill would expand the circumstances under 
which the Federal Government could offer assistance to State and local 
governments to help prosecute these crimes.
  Last Congress we had 208 bipartisan co-sponsors on this bill. This 
Congress we need to pass it into law. The Republican leadership has 
cast this bill aside. That is unacceptable. We have another chance in 
the 108th Congress, and I will continue to work with the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) until this bill is passed into law.
  Congress must make it clear that there is no room for personal 
attacks and bigotry in the United States of America. We are all part of 
a greater community, and we will only be protected from hate crimes 
when all our neighbors are protected from hate crimes.

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