Wednesday, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill that has been championed mainly by Democratic members of Congress for over a decade in the face of largely Republican opposition based on hideous lies from legalizing pedophilia to canceling the free exercise clause.

Somewhat lost in the celebration and remembrance of Matthew Shepard, the bill's namesake, was the story of Angie Zapata, an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley. She was brutally beaten to death with a fire extinguisher and left for dead just over a year ago because, as the thug who murdered confessed, "gay things must die."

“It’s not like I went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head or killed a straight, law-abiding citizen," he boasted to his girlfriend in a jailhouse-recorded phone conversation. And if he were to ever encounter a gay person in prison, he proclaimed that he would kill that "pink-shirt wearing motherfucker."

In each of our lives, we experience moments of shock that we will never forget. When Kennedy was shot in 1963. When the Challenger exploded over Florida in 1986.

For me, it was when 21 year-old Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead on a cold October night in 1998. Matt was killed because he was gay. It sent chills of terror through the gay and lesbian community because the message was clear: you're next.

Matt's murder sparked a national movement to amend the federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by sexual orientation, gender, or disability.

After ten years, that change in law is finally in sight. Tonight, the U.S. Senate will vote on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Both Senator Mark Udall and Senator Michael Bennet are cosponsors of this bill. The House version of the bill passed earlier this year with the support of six Colorado Representatives, and President Obama has committed to signing it.

Will you sign our virtual thank-you card to the members of the Colorado delegation who support this important law?

http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/HateCrimesThanks

Angie Zapata was an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley who had just moved into her first apartment on her own. She was murdered--in her killer's own words--because "all gay things need to die."

Read this piece from Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic. It's pretty biting, and yet there's nothing I can see with it that is untrue. What's wrong with this picture?

Here we are, in the summer of 2009, with gay servicemembers still being fired for the fact of their orientation. Here we are, with marriage rights spreading through the country and world and a president who cannot bring himself even to acknowledge these breakthroughs in civil rights, and having no plan in any distant future to do anything about it at a federal level. Here I am, facing a looming deadline to be forced to leave my American husband for good, and relocate abroad because the HIV travel and immigration ban remains in force and I have slowly run out of options (unlike most non-Americans with HIV who have no options at all).

And what is Obama doing about any of these things? What is he even intending at some point to do about these things? So far as I can read the administration, the answer is: nada. We're firing Arab linguists? So sorry. We won't recognize in any way a tiny minority of legally married couples in several states because they're, ugh, gay? We had no idea. There's a ban on HIV-positive tourists and immigrants? Really? Thanks for letting us know. Would you like to join Joe Solmonese and John Berry for cocktails? The inside of the White House is fabulous these days.

Editor's note: the roll-call vote shows that GOP Rep. Mike Coffman did in fact vote for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We regret the error and thank Rep. Coffman for his support.

By a vote of 249 to 175, the House of Representatives just passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. All of Colorado's Democratic representatives voted for the bill.

Watch Representative Polis speak during the debate, it's very good:

Watch Representative Markey speak in favor of the bill (she rocks!)

The trial of Angie Zapata's accused murderer Allen Andrade has reached a milestone in that the prosecution has rested its case. So far we've heard all kinds of heinous testimony and evidence of hatred and violence in this case.

You can follow the rest of the trial on AngieZapata.com include live updates viw Twitter from the courtroom from Pam's House Blend blogger Autumn Sandeen and the Greeley Tribune, all aggregated on this site.

Click here to tell Scott Renfroe what you think!

On the floor of the State Senate yesterday, Senator Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) actually referred to gay and lesbian people as an "abomination" and an "offense to God."

It gets worse:

Renfroe equated gay and lesbian people with murderers and quoted the Book of Leviticus suggesting that gay people should be put to death.

He also said that women were created to be "helpers" for men, quoting the Book of Genesis.

Renfroe was referring to Senate Bill 88, a bill that would extend healthcare coverage to the same-sex partners of state employees. SB 88 is about healthcare. It's about gaining some measure of equality for gay and lesbian state employees. And regardless of how people like James Dobson and Scott Renfroe feel about gay people, their shameless hate-mongering has no place in public debate and we should reject them completely.

Respond to Scott Renfroe.

http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/NoHateState

And please also forward this email to your friends and urge them to sign as well. ProgressNow Colorado will deliver your comments by the end of the week.

Sincerely,

Bobby Clark
Deputy Director

The British government has put a halt to the Fred Phelps sideshow before it has even begun:

The Phelpses, whose protests at military members’ funerals in the U.S. have prompted lawsuits and legislation, apparently had planned to fly to the United Kingdom to protest a performance of “The Laramie Project.”

The play about the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay student who was killed in 1998 in Laramie, Wyo., is scheduled to open today at Queen Mary’s College in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

“Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behavior by inciting hatred against a number of communities,” a U.K. Border Agency spokesman told the Times Online, the online site of The Times of London. “The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.”

In America, the Phelpses have a Constitutional right to free expression, something I and others have repeatedly defended here on this blog.

Swastika Guy and Michelle Malkin, too, are certainly welcome to exercise their right to free expression as guaranteed by the Constitution, as we reserve our own right to combat their speech with free speech of our own.

It is tremendously disrespectful to the memory of 6 million dead Jews, gays, and other so-called "undesirables" during the Holocaust, not to mention the 400,000+ Americans who lost their lives fighting in World War II to cheapen their legacy by comparing a mainstream American politician to Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, or any of their associated political ideologies.

People on the right who call President Obama a socialist don't know what socialism is. People on the right or left who would call President Obama or Bush a Nazi don't know what the word means.

I don't care where the comparison occurs, whether it's on the steps of our State Capitol or on this community blog where anyone can create an account and write for free, it's wrong. So please stop it.

We all know how important it is to have someone you have chosen make decisions on your behalf in medical emergencies or end-of-life care.

If you're married, then your spouse is entrusted by the state to make these decisions. But there are many unmarried Coloradans who fall through the cracks--a widowed person who could lose social security benefits, same-sex couples, and people who can't afford legal services.

That could change if House Bill 1260 passes out of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. HB 1260, the Designated Beneficiaries Bill would allow any two unmarried adults to go to the county clerk's office, pay a small fee and register as designated beneficiaries. It's easy. It's quick. It could save an individual hundreds of dollars. And the small fee pays for the cost of the program.

Please take a minute, click on the link below and sign the petition in support of the Designated Beneficiaries Bill, a low-cost and convenient method for making plans for end-of-life decisions, inheritance, and medical decisions.  We'll deliver your comments on Monday to the House Judiciary Committee.

Once you have taken action, please forward to your friends. It's time each of us have the ability to designate someone we trust to make hard decisions on our behalf in medical emergencies and in end-of-life care.

Right now, with just one phone call or e-mail, we can help reduce the number of uninsured in Colorado and help our state move towards equality for same-sex couples.  Can you help?

Sen. Jennifer Veiga introduced Senate Bill 88 – Domestic Partner Benefits, which would allow state employees to apply for health insurance for their partners.

Please contact your state senator and ask him or her to vote yes on Domestic Partner Benefits.

We have to act fast. Focus on the Family is already begging their vast network of right-wing zealots to contact their senators, claiming this bill somehow undermines marriage. We can't let them control the debate on this. SB 88 is not about marriage. It's about health insurance and fairness—two items everyone can support.

Please, show your support. Contact your senator now and urge them to say yes to SB 88 – Domestic Partner Benefits.