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CWA's Bahr Calls for Tougher Hate Crime Law in Wake of Killing of Gay Union Member

Communications Workers of America President Morton Bahr issued the following statement today:


The shocking mass shooting of gays and lesbians in Roanoke, Va. last Friday was yet another outrageous incident that cries out for a strong response by government leaders in the form of tougher legislation against hate crimes.

This tragedy was especially poignant for the Communications Workers of America because one of our union's members, Danny Lee Overstreet, was killed in this random shooting that also left six other people injured, at least one still in critical condition.

Overstreet, a 43-year-old customer service representative for Verizon Communications, became a victim for no other reason than he happened to be sitting at the Backstreet Caf‚, an establishment known to be patronized by members of the gay and lesbian community in Roanoke. His assailant, according to news reports, announced earlier that he intended to "waste some faggots."

Hate crimes aren't just directed at innocent individuals like Danny Overstreet, but against entire classes of people, and thus whole communities are victimized.

We call on the Congress to strengthen the federal hate crimes statute by passing the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act as part of the Department of Defense Authorization Act. This law is needed to include crimes against individuals based on sexual orientation, gender and disability in the statute and also to broaden coverage beyond just hate crimes committed on federal property or against people doing business with the government.

CWA also is pushing to include coverage of sexual orientation, gender and disability in state hate crime laws where those provisions don't now exist, such as in Virginia.



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