While all violent crimes are heinous, hate crimes are uniquely destructive, casting a pall of terror over an entire community. They don't just target a single victim. They are designed to "send a message" that an individual and "their kind" will not be tolerated, often leaving large numbers of people feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected. A law protecting all of our citizens against senseless hate violence is long overdue.

Two years ago, radical right-wing groups and George W. Bush's veto threat blocked the Matthew Shepard Act, which would outlaw hate crimes based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. But now that President Bush is out of office, the bill is back.

Attacks against LGBT people are one of the more common forms of hate violence but, tragically, one of the least protected. Hate crimes as a whole declined one percent last year, according to the FBI, but LGBT hate crimes increased six percent.

The House of Representatives passed a version of the bill, now tell the Senate that we need the Matthew Shepard Act to help ensure safety and security for ALL people.

As your constituent and a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign, I am writing to express my strong support for the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act. I hope you'll do everything in your power to pass it.

This bill, which passed both houses of Congress in 2007 but did not become law, would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from bias-motivated hate violence.

While all violent crimes are heinous, hate crimes are uniquely destructive, casting a pall of terror over an entire community. They don't just target a single victim. They are designed to "send a message" that an individual and "their kind" will not be tolerated, often leaving large numbers of people feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected.

Attacks against LGBT people are one of the more common forms of hate violence but, illogically, one of the least protected. Hate crimes as a whole declined 1 percent last year, according to the FBI, but LGBT hate crimes increased 6 percent.

It's long past time that we expand federal hate crimes law to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. And we must give local law enforcement officials the resources needed to investigate and prosecute these crimes.

[Your comments]

Please protect civil rights by giving this bill your full support and attention, and by urging your colleagues to support it as well.

Sincerely,
[Your name here]