Background: Minority rights groups, especially gay and lesbian rights groups, have been pushing for stronger hate crime punishments for a long time. President Bush vowed to veto any such legislation to pass Congress.
Summary: The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would make assault on someone based on his sexual orientation or gender identity a federal crime. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. This represents another effort by President Obama to reach out to the gay community, who feel that they have not received as much attention from Obama as they had been promised in his campaign.
Analysis: This legislation appears to be an effort by the Democratic party to reach out to the gay community in an effort to ensure their votes. There are already hate crime laws on the books, so this new legislation simply strengthens what is already there.
Editorial: We should not make a distinction between regular crimes and "hate" crimes. There are laws to protect gays from violence--the same laws that protect everyone from violence. Hate crime laws come very close to criminalizing speech. We should have no laws in America that make people afraid to speak their minds.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/22/hate.crimes/index.html
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