[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16634]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT OF 2007

  MR. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the need for 
hate crimes legislation. Each Congress, Senator Kennedy and I introduce 
hate crimes legislation that would add new categories to current hate 
crimes law, sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable 
in our society. Likewise, each Congress I have come to the floor on 
many occasions to highlight a separate violent, hate-motivated crime 
that has occurred in our country.
  In the early morning of July 13, 2008, three gay men were dining at a 
late-night pizza restaurant in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of 
Washington, DC, when they were verbally assaulted by five men. The two 
groups allegedly exchanged heated words at the restaurant before the 
three gay men left and began to walk home, But the five men followed 
them in pursuit. According to the police report, the assailants 
continued to hurl anti-gay epithets and later physically attacked the 
three men, hospitalizing two of them. Police have not yet apprehended 
the suspects, but the investigation continues. Advisory neighborhood 
commissioner Jack Jacobsen, a friend of one of the victims, says the 
three men were shaken by the incident and have decided not to disclose 
their identities to news sources.
  I believe that the Government's first duty is to defend its citizens, 
to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. The Matthew 
Shepard Act is a symbol that can become substance. I believe that by 
passing this legislation and changing current law, we can change hearts 
and minds as well.

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