Press

Blake Cornish, Federal Legislative Lawyer
bcornish@ngltf.org

URGENT!

Virginia Residents: Contact Sen.Warner on Hate Crimes Bill

Virginia residents should contact U.S. Sen. John Warner immediately and urge him keep the hate crimes amendment as part of the Department of Defense Authorization Bill.

Sen. Warner holds the critical position of co-chair of the House-Senate Conference Committee that is considering the defense bill, which includes an amendment to expand federal hate crimes law to cover crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender and disability. He has considerable influence over the final contents of the authorization bill. Warner voted against the hate crimes amendment when the Senate considered the bill earlier this year, but has not publicly stated whether he will allow the hate crimes amendment to stay in the bill.

Consideration of the hate crimes amendment comes just days after the brutal and senseless murder of a man in a gay bar in Warner’s home state of Virginia. Danny Lee Overstreet was shot to death and six others wounded after a man pulled a handgun from his coat and opened fire at the Backstreet Café in Roanoke.

Virginia residents should contact Sen. Warner at:

Honorable John W. Warner
225 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4601

Phone: 202-224-2023
Email: senator@warner.senate.gov

Tell Senator Warner the federal government must respond to the epidemic of hate violence, and that he must support keeping the hate crimes amendment in the Department of Defense bill.

For more information on hate crimes, visit www.ngltf.org/issues/issue.cfm?issueID=12

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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.