Judy Shepherd keeps up the fight to protect...

I met Judy Shepherd last fall at an HRC "Get Out and Vote" event at Devid Beckwith's house and we had a nice chat then. With all the events she has done over the years and people that she meets, I was surprised that she remembered me when we saw each other at the GLAAD Awards over the weekend. (She is pictured with GLAAD president Neil Guiliano).
She is a very special woman and I just want to hug her whenever I see her. Judy has been a tireless advocate since the murder of her son, Matthew Shepherd, and attended a Capitol Hill news conference a few weeks ago to announce the filing of a federal hate crime bill that is named after he son who was killed in a homophobic attack in Wyoming in 1998. He was just 21.
If the bill is passed by the Congress, this is an opportunity for President Bush to do ONE wise thing during his disastrous presidency by signing the bill into law.
"I really think the House and the Senate will pass it this time around and I'm very honored that Sen. Smith and Sen. Kennedy named it the Matthew Sheppard Act. To my knowledge the president has not commented but we do feel we have the votes," Judy told me.
The measure passed the House in the last Congress but was dropped in the then Republican-controlled Senate last year. Called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, it would allow the Department of Justice to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs.
"Some states like Wyoming have no hate crime legislation for sexual orientation. Because it's not already included in a federal bill, [victims] can get no financial help from the government. So in Wyoming when Matthew was killed, they actually had to layoff five employees to pay for the trial. So, it's very important."