Clinton Urges Expanding Federal Hate Crimes Law

Evoking the brutal killings of gay men in Alabama and Wyoming and “ethnic cleansing” taking place in Kosovo, President Clinton on Tuesday urged Congress to expand the federal hate crimes law to cover sexual orientation, gender and disability.

“When someone dies in a horrible incident in America, or when we see slaughter or ethnic cleansing abroad, we should remember that we defeat these things by teaching and by practicing a different way of life, and by reacting vigorously when they occur within our own midst,” Clinton said.

The president spoke at an event with clergy, police and civil rights workers, including a representative of ethnic Albanians being driven out of Kosovo by Yugoslav forces.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 would also expand the conditions under which people can be prosecuted for violent crimes motivated by bias based on race, color, religion or national origin. Officials said current law only covers such acts when they are committed against people engaged in certain federally protected activities, such as voting or going to school.

The United States has reeled from three, high-profile alleged hate crimes in the last year: the killing of a black man chained to a pickup truck and dragged for miles in Jasper, Texas; the slaying of a gay Wyoming college student who was pistol-whipped and lashed on a fence in freezing weather; and the beating of an Alabama gay man whose body was set on fire.

Clinton’s push for an expanded hate crimes law came a day after Russell Henderson was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of the Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, whose death focused national attention on crimes against gays.

A coalition of anti-violence groups reported Tuesday that serious anti-gay violence ranging from murder to attacks with guns, clubs and knives rose sharply in 1998.

Although the number of reported anti-gay incidents fell about 4%, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs released figures from 16 cities showing that murders attributed to anti-gay prejudice jumped to 33 in 1998 from 14 in 1996.

Clinton’s hate crimes initiative included asking the departments of Education and Justice