The U.S. House will vote on the Matthew Shepard Act, aka the Hate Crimes Bill, aka the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act tomorrow.
HRC reports that the far right is “flooding Congress with calls, emails and sickening ‘fact sheets’ claiming that sexual orientation means criminal acts like bestiality and necrophilia, and that this bill protects those behaviors. Shame on them.”
HRC has organized a national call-in campaign today. Even if you aren’t a member of HRC, or don’t support them, I urge you to take action on this bill.
Take less than one minute (literally! I timed it!) to do the following today. (The below is a slightly modified version of the information HRC sent to me.)
- Before 5 p.m. ET, call your rep’s office. Look it up here or call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your rep by name.
- Most likely, one of your rep’s interns will answer and ask where you’re calling from and why. You’re calling to urge the Representative to vote for the Matthew Shepard Act (H.R. 1913). Most calls end right there. [My rep’s intern also asked for my address so the rep could write back to me.] But if you like, you can add:
- Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are on the rise. One out of every six hate crimes is because of the victim’s sexual orientation.
- Hate crimes have more than one victim. They are intended to create an atmosphere of fear and terrorize entire communities.
- The Matthew Shepard Act targets only violent acts — not speech. It does not tell any clergy member what he or she can or can’t preach.
- Mention that your rep’s vote on this bill will affect your future support.
- [Via HRC] IMPORTANT: After you hang up, click here to let HRC know that you made the call. This helps them track progress of this effort.