Once again, Congressmember Judy Chu (CA-32) has proven herself to be a strong ally of the gay and lesbian community by voting, and voicing, her support for the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The bill pass by a vote of 281-146 and now goes to a final ratification by the U.S. Senate early next week. 

From The New York Times:

The hate-crime provision had passed both the House and Senate in previous years as a separate bill, but the bill could never clear its final hurdles. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was fitting that Congress was acting now because Monday is the 11th anniversary of Mr. Shepard’s death. The legislation is known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, for Mr. Shephard and a black man who was killed in a race-based attack in Texas the same year.

“When I came to Congress 22 years ago, hate-crimes legislation was one of the items on my agenda,” Ms. Pelosi said.

The hate-crimes legislation allocates $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating such crimes, a process that can sometimes strain local police resources. It allows the Justice Department to assist in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes if asked to do so by local authorities.

As we all should remember, Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming in 1998.