Washington Gov. signs Senate Bill 5952

Post by **DonnaT** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:52 pm

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1406/story/554045.html

OLYMPIA -- The same day a Colorado man became the first in the nation to be convicted of the hate-crime murder of a transgender person, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a law paving the way for similar kinds of prosecutions in Washington.

Senate Bill 5952 added "transgender" to the definition of sexual orientation in the state's hate crime law, meaning people who commit violent crimes against someone because of gender identity or expression can be charged with hate crimes and face harsher penalties.

Washington on Wednesday became the 12th state to have such a law.

"The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community gained much needed protection today," said Sen. Joe McDermott, D-Seattle, the bill's sponsor. "No crime against another person is acceptable. But our laws recognize that some crimes are particularly heinous and deserve harsher punishment."

Statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs show reported acts of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people rose 24 percent in 2007 nationwide, and 16 percent of those were motivated by anti-transgender bias.

(More at link)

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:48 pm

Donna

Good - its nice to see the USA catching up to the UK for a change. I am glad my sisters there enjoy the same protection we do,

Kimberly Kael · Post by **Kimberly Kael** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:23 pm

Hurrah! Always nice to see social progress in my neck of the woods. I still can't believe we're behind Texas on the ID front, but in general I have to say this is a very open-minded corner of the country.

Jabbela · Post by **Jabbela** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:30 am

Maybe not of interest to all of you from the US...

The European Community has published their report about "Homophobia and Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the EU Member States" through their Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). The report consists of two parts, one about the legal situation and the second one about the social situation. So far I just had the chance to read through the summary, but anyway it was very interesting and showing things, that should change soon. Most alarming to me was the statement, that Transgender people in most cases are treated worse than LGB people - as homosexuality gets accepted more and more.

Currently I think about attending the Trans-Tagung in Munich with several workshops about Trans* life next weekend...