Fighting Hate Crimes is will always be a highly charged emotional issue. In the USA one in six hate crimes are motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. Yet Federal laws don't protect these people.
Matthew Shepard was a young man who was gay - he was tied to a split-rail fence where he was brutally beaten and left to die.
The Matthew Shepard Act which aims to include sexual orientation and gender identification as hate crimes is coming before the Senate.
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is lobbying the public to write to their Senators to ensure that this gets passed.
The video was produced for Cyndi Lauper's True Colors tour benefiting HRC, and it's now showing at concerts across the USA.
Joe Solmonese, President of HRC says : "As I write this, angry radical right-wing leaders are using scare tactics to fire up their base against the Matthew Shepard Act. They're saying it could "send pastors to prison for simply reading a part of the Bible." It's absurd.
Even worse: despite our House victory, we're hearing from Senate staffers that opponents of the Matthew Shepard Act are still beating us five to one in emails, calls, and letters.
Five to one. With the vote approaching and many senators still undecided, we simply cannot allow this to continue."
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