[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6488]
[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 strengthen and 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 to highlight a separate hate crime that has occurred in our 
country.
  On the night of March 7, 2008, Lance Neve was with his boyfriend at a 
bar in Spencerport, NY. Neve told police that a man at the bar had been 
yelling anti-gay slurs at him and his boyfriend and continued to harass 
them using derogatory comments throughout the night. The aggressor then 
allegedly asked to shake Neve's hand, explaining that he had never 
shaken hands with a gay man. When Neve refused, he says the man 
attacked him and continued to beat him after he had fallen to the 
ground, knocking him unconscious. Neve was hospitalized with a 
fractured skull, nose, left eye socket, and jaw as a result of the 
attack. Police have arrested 24-year-old Jesse D. Parsons of 
Spencerport, NY, and charged him with second-degree assault designated 
as a hate crime in connection with the attack.
  I believe that the Government's first duty is to defend its citizens, 
to defend them against the harms that come out of hate. Federal laws 
intended to protect individuals from heinous and violent crimes 
motivated by hate are woefully inadequate. This legislation would 
better equip the Government to fulfill its most important obligation by 
protecting new groups of people as well as better protecting citizens 
already covered under deficient laws. I believe that by passing this 
legislation and changing current law, we can change hearts and minds as 
well.

                          ____________________