Michigan To Outlaw Misgendering in New Bill Passed By The House

The Michigan House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make intentionally misgendering a person a felony. If passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate and signed by Governor Whitmer House Bill 4474 will replace Michigan's existing Ethnic Intimidation Act, expanding the existing law to cover sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, and physical or mental disability.

According to News Week, religion, ethnicity and race were already included in the previous legislation and will still be covered under the new law. The bill would make it a hate crime to cause someone to "feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened" with words—including by deliberately misgendering them.

Republicans naturally oppose expanding the hate crime law. Republican State Rep. Steve Carra tells CBS News Detroit he's concerned the expansion goes too far. "Threats and violence and things of that nature and protecting against crime is certainly something that we absolutely should be doing in Michigan. But we shouldn't be building that around an individual's feelings of being frightened," Carra said.

YouTube Obama Signs Transgender Inclusive Hate Crimes Bill

President Obama Signs The Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act Into Law - 10/28/09



Before signing into law The Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act President Barrack Hussein Obama commented about how this law was needed for LGBT people. He could not be more right! TRANSGENDER PEOPLE THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Transgender Inclusive Hate Crime Bill Passes Senate

Source NCTE: VICTORY: Hate Crimes Bill Passes;
First Federal Bill to Protect Transgender People

(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) "In an historic move, the United States Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local goverments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law."

"Transgender people have been waiting so many years for assistance from the federal government in addressing the rampant and disproportional violence that we face," noted Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Today we move one step closer to our goal of ending violence motivated by hatred. Everyone in America deserves to live free of fear and of violence. We know that the dedicated leadership and hard work of Senator Kennedy and Representative Conyers and many other legislators made the passage of this bill possible. Words can't really express our gratitude for their commitment to equality for all people."

"In the past, federal law has only mentioned gender identity in a negative context, such as explicitly excluding transgender people from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The passage of the hate crimes bill marks a significant turning pointfrom the days in which the federal government contributed to the oppression of transgender people to today when federal law takes action to protect our lives."

"The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act will have a number of positive impacts. First, it will help educate law enforcement about the frequent hate violence against transgender people and the need to prevent and appropriately address it. Second, it will help provide federal expertise and resources when it is needed to overcome a lack of resources or the willful inaction on the part of local and/or state law enforcement. Third, it will help educate the public that violence against anyone is unacceptable and illegal."

"Transgender people continue to be disproportionately targeted for bias motivated violence. Thirteen states and Washington, DC have laws which include transgender people in state hate crimes laws."

National Center For Transgender Equality

Contact Your Senators About Hate Crimes Bill

Join the Final Push to Protect All People from Hate Crimes

From: Mara Keisling ncte@nctequality.org

We have good news: The Senate is likely to vote on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, as early as next Wednesday, July 15. As you may remember, the companion bill, H.R.1913, already passed the House of Representatives this past April after NCTE's successful lobby day. With a final push, you can help to make this important bill become a law. This bill expands the coverage of existing hate crime laws to include crimes not only based on race, color, religion, and national origin, but also bias-motivated crimes based on the victim's actual pr perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.

TAKE ACTION
Call your Senators on Wednesday. On Wednesday, July 15, call your senators toll free at 866-659-9641 between 9am and 5pm ET. It is vital that they hear from you since they will also be hearing from those who oppose this bill. Urge your Senator to vote in support of S.909, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Please take this important step to help address the violence faced by transgender people.
WHAT THE BILL SAYS
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, would:
Extend existing federal protections to include "gender identity, sexual orientation, gender and disability"
Allow the Justice Department to assist in hate crime investigations at the local level when local law enforcement is unable or unwilling to fully address these crimes
Mandate that the FBI begin tracking hate crimes based on actual or perceived gender identity
Remove limitations that narrowly define hate crimes to violence committed while a person is accessing a federally protected activity, such as voting.The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is supported by nearly 300 civil rights, education, religious, and civic organizations. The bill is also endorsed by virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country-including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and thirty-one state Attorneys General.
For more information:
Read the specifics about this legislation from the Library of Congress, go to their website and search by bill S.909

View our fact sheet about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the House version of this bill) and read additional information about hate crimes on our website
Thank you!Thank you for taking action on this vital issue as we work together to make our world safer for transgender people.

Urge Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia to Support a National Hate Crimes Bill

Contact Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and urge him to support the Mathew Shepard Hate Crime Legislation.

The below correspondence was received in response to a request made to Sen. Chambliss that he support national hate crimes legislation.

"Thank you for contacting me regarding your thoughts on hate crime legislation. I appreciate hearing your concerns on this matter."

"There is little evidence that indicates that violent crimes motivated by "hate" go unpunished in the United States. Most states already have criminal laws that prohibit the anti-social behavior addressed by hate crime legislation - including laws against murder, rape, arson, assault, and battery."

"I oppose the creation of Federal hate crime legislation for a variety of reasons. First, I do not believe the Federal government should interfere with the criminal laws already on the books in our states. Second, many hate crime bills attempt to establish a "protected class" of crime victims who would receive special protection under the law. And finally, we already have laws to prosecute individuals who commit violent crimes. Those people guilty of violent crimes against anyone should be prosecuted under existing law."

Some back ground information

A sample Letter

I hope you will support a Senate hate crimes bill.
The LGBT community has long unjustly suffered from violent crime targeted directly against Transgender, Bisexual, Queer, Gay and Lesbian people, law enforcements inability to identify hate crimes against LGBT people and the judicial systems inability to enforce harsher sentencing for hate crimes against LGBT people.

Sen Sen. Chambliss contact page