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President Obama Meets with Judy Shepard to Discuss Hate-Crimes Act by Gizem Unsalan May 21, 2009 |
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photo by Pete Souza/The White House
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Judy Shepard with President Barack Obama |
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According to a report by The Advocate, yesterday President Barack Obama met with Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered over a decade ago in a hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming. The two met in the Oval Office to discuss the Matthew Shepard Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity protections to the federal hate-crimes law. The law, which was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in April, has yet to be voted on in the Senate.
President Obama supports the bill, as he has done since he was a senator in Illinois.
Shepard told The Advocate reporters that the Obamas invited her on Monday, and her meeting with the president on Wednesday was short. “It was supposed to be 10 minutes, but his meeting beforehand ran long and I only had a minute or so with him,” Shepard said. Still, President Obama was able to assure Shepard that he fully supported the hate-crimes bill named after her son.
Shepard then attended a luncheon hosted by Michelle Obama. “It was me and about 80 other people,” she said, adding that she didn’t get any one-on-one time to speak to the first lady.
Other gay activists were not convinced the Obama administration did enough to protect gay and lesbian civil rights. One of these activists was David Mixner, who called for a national March on Washington on Wednesday to shake up the Obama administration on this issue.
When asked about Mixner, Shepard told the reporters that people must be patient with the current administration when it comes to LGBT issues. “We are victims of our own hope,” she says. “These bills are going to get passed, it’s just going to take time and work.”
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