Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Judy Shepard announced the introduction of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of the Department of Defense Authorization Bill. Watch:
The legislation will be voted on later this week. Please contact your Senator and urge them to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and HRC President Joe Solmonese speak at a press conference on soon-to-be-passed hate crimes legislation.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuldELb9KDs[/youtube]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated in a press conference today that there are no plans in the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) as there are no sponsors for such a bill at this time. From the Advocate:
“I haven’t identified any sponsors,” he [Reid] said. “My hope is that it can be done administratively.”
A Democratic aide later clarified that Reid was speaking about the possibility of using an executive order to suspend discharges or perhaps halting enforcement of the policy by changing departmental regulations within the Department of Defense.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has continually said in recent months that President Barack Obama believes the only “durable solution” to repealing the military’s gay ban would be to do so through legislative action.
Now that the ball is back in Obama’s court, I can’t wait to hear Gibbs’ response.
A source for the Washington Blade has said that hate crimes legislation will likely be attached to a tourism bill which will be voted on by the Senate later this week.
Lawmakers are expected to pass the measure by amending S. 1023, or the Travel Promotion Act, said the source. The bill is geared toward establishing a national travel promotion program to communicate U.S. travel policies and to promote travel to the United States.
“The idea is that that will be an amendment to the tourism bill that’s going to be on the floor this week in the Senate, and we’re thinking that the vote will happen probably [Tuesday] or Wednesday,” said the source.
A press conference is expected later today.