April, 23 2009, 02:53pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Drew Courtney or Josh Glasstetter,Phone: 202-467-4999,Email:,media@pfaw.org
Hate Crimes Legislation Passes House Judiciary Committee
The House Judiciary Committee today voted 15 to 12 to send the Local
Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913) to the floor for
a vote. People For the American
Way President Michael B. Keegan issued the
following statement:
"Today's vote is a very positive step towards
passing this bill into law. I'm extremely optimistic that this year
we'll finally be able to enact hate crimes legislation that includes
protections against violence based on disability status, sexual orientation,
gender, and gender identity.
WASHINGTON
The House Judiciary Committee today voted 15 to 12 to send the Local
Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913) to the floor for
a vote. People For the American
Way President Michael B. Keegan issued the
following statement:
"Today's vote is a very positive step towards
passing this bill into law. I'm extremely optimistic that this year
we'll finally be able to enact hate crimes legislation that includes
protections against violence based on disability status, sexual orientation,
gender, and gender identity.
"Political groups with an anti-gay agenda are working hard to
stop the legislation, and we've already seen the usual barrage of
baseless attacks from the right wing. The Local Law Enforcement Hate
Crimes Prevention Act protects free speech, and it protects religious liberty.
It's time to turn away from dishonest scare tactics and pass this
legislation on to the Senate and to the President's desk.
"People For the American Way will continue to push for this
legislation and against right wing ideologues who attempt to derail it."
You can read People For the American Way's "Right Wing
Watch: In Focus" report on hate crimes legislation here.
People For the American Way works to build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. We fight against right-wing extremism and the injustice it fosters.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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"The reason we have not joined virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right is the political power and financial power of the insurance industry and drug companies," he told Jacobin. "It will take a political revolution in this country to get Congress to say, 'You know what, we're here to represent ordinary people, to provide quality care to ordinary people as a human right,' and not to worry about the profits of insurance and drug companies."
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"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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