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)
