About the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) - the Federal Hate Crimes Bill

(formerly LLEEA - Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act)

I. Terminology

Gender refers to the way we perceive certain things to be masculine or feminine. These things need not be human; for example, in the language of many cultures, cups are feminine, and pencils masculine.

In people, we tend to associate gender - that is, masculine and feminine meanings - with features that include:

• Gender Characteristics -- primary and secondary physical sexual characteristics such as genitals, height, weight, musculature, or body hair;
• Gender Expression -- how a person manifests a fundamental sense of themselves as masculine or feminine and male or female, including dress, posture, vocal inflection, and so on.
• Sexual Orientation -- gay men are often automatically assumed to be effeminate or at least more feminine than their heterosexual counterparts, and vice versa for lesbian women
• Gender Identity -- refers to an individual's self-awareness or fundamental sense of themselves as being masculine or feminine, and male or female, and is commonly used to refer to transsexual or transgender individuals.

II. Questions & Answers

What is the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC)?

GenderPAC is the national organization working to end discrimination and violence caused by gender stereotypes. Our work focuses on changing public attitudes, educating elected officials, and expanding legal rights. Our goals are safer communities, fairer workplaces, and schools where all children are valued and respected.

GenderPAC is committed to a vision of community in which all Americans are free from violence caused by gender stereotypes. For more information on our work, you can contact us by email at gpac@gpac.org, by phone at 202.462.6610, or by visiting our website at www.gpac.org

What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is an assault motivated by bias against a particular group, such as people from a particular nationality, or individuals who share a particular perceived characteristic, such as race.

HCPA would define a hate crime as any violence act that causes death or bodily injury due to the "actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability" of the victim. This would add gender, sexual orientation, and disability to the existing statutes.

Aren't all violent assaults hate crimes?

No. Hate crimes are violent assaults that target members of a particular group, and thus send threatening messages to a whole community. For instance, a series of hate crimes that specifically targets Jews would send a message to an entire community that they are at risk. They are, in that sense, crimes not only against individuals but against specific groups' full participation in society. For this reason, society has a special interest in discouraging and preventing hate crimes.

Aren't there already laws against murder and assault?

Yes, but the law recognizes that hate crimes that target specific communities place entire communities at special risk. They are, in that sense, crimes not only against individuals but against specific's groups full participation in society. Thus, society has a special interest in discouraging and preventing hate crimes.

What would the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act do?

The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would enable federal authorities to act in cases of violent hate crimes either where local authorities lack sufficient resources, or where they fail to act, as in the case of the murder of Brandon Teena (memorialized in the movie Boys Don't Cry).

How would HCPA address violence based on gender stereotypes?

Many Americans are targeted for violence because they don't conform to narrow gender stereotypes. This can include transgender Americans, such as Brandon Teena, who was murdered in Falls City, NE for living openly as a man. Many people know of this hate crime through the movie Boys Don't Cry. Fewer people know about Willie Houston, a 38 year-old African American bus driver who was murdered the night of his engagement because another man became enraged at seeing him holding his fiancé's purse on one arm and helping a blind man on the other. Less obviously, gender-based hate can also be understood to include people like Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student who was targeted by his assailants in part because he was slight, short, and gay.

Gender-based hate affects many kinds of people. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would help combat this by adding "actual or perceived gender" to federal hate crimes statutes, bringing them under the jurisdiction of federal authorities.