A bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identification to the definition of what constitutes a hate crime failed to gain the necessary votes to advance from a Virginia Senate committee on Wednesday, thereby killing the measure for the 2015 legislative session.
Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, chief patron of SB799.
The bill, SB799, one of several pro-LGBT measures promoted by advocates and legislative allies, failed to gain the eight votes needed to pass from the Courts of Justice Committee to the floor for a vote of the full Senate, failing 6-7. In addition to adding sexual orientation and gender identification to a list of protected groups or characteristics, including race, religion or ethnic origin, to the definition of what constitutes a hate crime, the bill, had it passed, would also have required local law enforcement authorities to report any hate crimes to the Department of State Police. The State Police would then be tasked with recording the crime in a central database for the collection and analysis of information related to the commission of hate crimes.
The 6-7 vote split along party lines, with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans rejecting it. Voting in favor were: Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Springfield, Alexandria City, Falls Church) and Sens. Janet Howell (D-Reston, Tysons Corner, Arlington); Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth, Sussex, Franklin, Emporia); John Edwards (D-Roanoke, Pearisburg, Blacksburg); Donald McEachin (D-City of Richmond, Ashland, Charles City); and Linda “Toddy” Puller (D-Mount Vernon, Woodbridge, Quantico).
Voting against the bill were: Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment (R-Williamsburg, Poquoson, Suffolk, King and Queen Court House) and Sens. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg, Luray, Front Royal); Ryan McDougle (R-Mechanicsburg, Bowling Green, Tappahannock, Lancaster); Bill Stanley (R-Glade Hill, Galax, Martinsville, Danville); Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Louisa, Culpeper); Tom Garrett (R-Lynchburg, Appomattox, Farmville, Cumberland); and Ben Chafin (R-Lebanon, Norton, Tazewell, Radford).
Two more Republicans — Richard Stuart (Stafford, Fredericksburg, Montross, Brentsville) and Jill Holtzman Vogel (Upperville, Winchester, Aldie, Jeffersonton) — were not present when the bill was brought up and did not vote by proxy, meaning their votes were not recorded.
Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Upperville
Vogel told Metro Weekly that she had temporarily left the committee to notarize a document, and the bill was brought up in her absence. She had not designated a proxy to vote for her, so in the official record, there will be no recorded vote for her, she said. That said, she indicated she would have voted favorably, and added that she will be voting in favor of a proposed bill to prohibit employment discrimination when it is brought up later this session.
“I do not believe in discrimination for any reason. Period,” Vogel said. “I also believe that a hate crime is a hate crime, and should be prosecuted as such under the law.”
A spokesman for Sen. Stuart did not return a voicemail seeking comment as of publication time.
Abigail Fox, a spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington, McLean, Potomac Falls), the bill’s chief patron, said the senator stood by earlier comments she had made in support of the bill.
“Obviously, it’s very disappointing. This would have done a lot for Virginians, and for LGBT individuals,” Fox said. “The FBI estimates that 20 percent of hate crimes are committed against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. This bill would have helped those people by having those crimes reported to the State Police.”
The commonwealth’s top LGBT rights organization, Equality Virginia, also expressed its disappointment at the bill’s failure, with the group’s executive director, James Parrish, saying he was “saddened” by close margin by which the bill failed to advance from committee.
“SB 799 would have ensured that hate crimes against LGBT Virginians are being reported to the State Police so they may be collected an analyzed. Expanding Virginia’s hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and gender identity is about sending a message that violence against LGBT people is not okay,” Parrish said.
“Opposing an inclusive law sends the message that LGBT people are legitimate targets for violence, something that very few Virginians would support,” Parrish continued. “Anti-LGBT hate crimes are the third most frequent kind of hate crimes in America, after race and religion. We must not systematically exclude LGBT people from existing hate crimes law. It’s time for Virginia to join the majority of states that already address LGBT people as part of their hate crime laws.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Little Rock restaurant, with the owner citing concerns from LGBTQ employees over her political positions.
On March 13, Sanders dined at The Croissanterie, arriving unannounced with two guests, staff members, and her State Police Executive Protection Detail.
Her party had been seated for more than an hour and had already paid and tipped when she said the restaurant owner asked a member of her security detail to have them leave.
"Growing up, my family was politically aware," says Democratic California State Sen. Scott Wiener. "I remember in 1980, when Reagan was elected, I was 10 years old. I remember our house was a house of mourning that election night, and there was a sense in my home of just trepidation of what was going to happen because even though Reagan seems somewhat more benign than Trump, it was a very right-wing takeover.
"My family was very aware and attuned to what was happening, and especially as Jews, you're always attuned to who's taking over the government and what they could do."
Growing up in Southern New Jersey, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Wiener, the son of an optometrist, was raised in a conservative Jewish family, with ancestors who fled the pogroms of Russia and Eastern Europe in the early 20th century before immigrating to the United States. While his hometown ultimately transitioned from a farm town into a more developed suburb, there was no local synagogue until Wiener's parents formed one with a dozen other Jewish families from the surrounding area.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee are pushing a bill that critics warn could effectively create a registry of transgender residents, raising fears it could be used to surveil or harass them.
House Bill 754, sponsored by State Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) and Sen. Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), would require all gender clinics in Tennessee to report monthly health data on patients who have received transition-related care to the Department of Health. The department would then publish aggregated annual reports.
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