From McClatchy-Tribune News Service in the Baltimore Sun:

Kathi Wolfe, who identifies herself as a legally blind lesbian, says the president should be praised for signing the hate crime bill, which enlarges the definition of federal hate crimes to include those involving sexual orientation, gender or disability.

Wolfe rejects claims that the law will inhibit free speech, and says bias will only be prosecuted when accompanied by a violent act.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act won’t end bias-based crimes. But it will put everyone on notice that such crimes will not be tolerated.

And for those of us who are vulnerable, it makes us a little less fearful today than we were yesterday.

That’s something that all Americans should celebrate.

Kathi Wolfe is a poet and writer for Progressive Media Project.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 4:51 pm and is filed under blindness/visual impairments, hate crimes, sexuality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.