Barack Obama's
campaign held a conference call with reporters Monday to
highlight the differences between Obama and John McCain on
hate-crimes legislation.
Matt Nosanchuk,
who convened Obama's National LGBT Steering and
Policy Committee, started the call by referencing a
May report released from the National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs showing that anti-LGBT hate
crimes had risen by 24% since 2006 (from 1,954 to 2,430).
"Those
statistics, paired with the stark contrast on the
[candidates'] positions, suggested to us the
importance of having this call today," said
Nosanchuk.
When the defense
authorization bill that had a hate-crimes provision
attached to it was considered last September, Obama joined
59 other senators in voting to end debate and move the
bill forward in the Senate. McCain was the only
senator not present for that cloture vote. The
hate-crimes provision ultimately did not make the final
version of the defense bill because President Bush had
vowed to veto the bill. But Nosanchuk noted that Obama
has pledged to "place the weight of [his]
administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard
Act." McCain voted against adding sexual
orientation into federal hate-crimes law in 2000 and
2002.
Hate-crimes
legislation is a safe issue on which Obama can draw
distinctions between himself and McCain. A 2007 Gallup poll
showed that 78% of Americans favor having hate-crimes
laws to protect minorities, and 68% support expanding
that law to include gender, sexual orientation, and
gender identity. (Kerry Eleveld, The Advocate)
