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WASHINGTON - February 2 - When a man walks into a
bar, asks if it’s a gay bar and starts shooting, there
couldn’t be any more glaringly obvious and enraging example
that we need uniform hate crimes law and that Congress is stubbornly
failing to act,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe
Solmonese.
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the
following statement in the wake of a violent anti-gay hate crime
in Massachusetts Wednesday
evening.
“When a man walks
into a bar, asks if it’s a gay bar and starts shooting, there
couldn’t be any more glaringly obvious and enraging example that
we need uniform hate crimes law and that Congress has stubbornly failed
to act,” said Solmonese. “The Senate can change this today.
Whether the hate crime occurs in New Bedford, Massachusetts, or Roanoke,
Virginia, local law enforcement deserve access to the
same tools. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would do
this.
“I am infuriated and
deeply saddened. Our hearts are with the families and friends of those
wounded in this tragic hate crime,” added Solmonese. “This
harrowing crime is a sobering and shocking reminder of the way anti-gay
prejudice manifests to violence and that we need to deal with this as a
country.
“We are thankful that the
local authorities are investigating this as a hate crime. We stand by
congressional allies who have been working for years to pass a measure
giving critical tools to police officers and district attorneys working
for justice in the wake of horrifying hate crimes. The Senate should do
what the House has already done and pass the hate crimes
law.”
According to reports a
man walked into a lounge in New Bedford,
Mass., asking if it was a gay bar. He then brandished a
hatchet, swinging it at victims, and later drew a gun, opening fire and
wounding several people.
In the course of
prosecuting the killers in the anti-gay hate crime in Laramie,
Wyo., in which Matthew Shepard was murdered, local law
enforcement was forced to furlough several officers due to scarcity of
resources. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, already passed by
the House in the fall and by the Senate in years past, would give grants
to local law enforcement to fully prosecute these crimes. Senate
leadership is stalling a vote on the bill.
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