In any case, they heard speakers complain that there were shortcomings in existing hate-crime laws.
The closest it has come was adding them to existing hate-crimes laws, in 2009, and, in 2010, voting to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy that excluded gays and lesbians from serving in the military.
He warns that could fuel resentment and the Home Secretary would have to convince MPs why extremists could not be prosecuted under existing hate crime laws.
The song "Catalyst," meanwhile, almost saw inclusion on Slayer's 2001 album God Hates Us All, existing in an alternative version which features former drummer Paul Bostaph on drums.
In addition to Indiana, lawmakers in at least six other states have already introduced bills this year that seek to expand existing hate crime laws to cover new groups like homeless people, transgender Americans, and even police — or increase penalties.
During his confirmation hearings, senators pointed out how Sessions had vehemently opposed adding gay and transgender people to existing hate crimes laws, which the justice department is charged with enforcing ever since the bill he opposed became law in 2009.
The effect of Shepard's life and his family's activism came into sharp focus on Oct. 22, 2009, when the United States Congress passed The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, adding gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to existing hate crimes laws.
We still have a long way to go before we've passed all of the necessary and important laws to include LGBT people in existing hate crimes protections, and many Americans don't realize that it's still a serious problem in communities all over the country.
But as we begin the process of healing, we must now deal with the non-queer, mainstream public trying to process something that we, as queer, have always known: people hate us simply for existing as we are in the world.
Dictators speak to their victims in the language of violence because their raison d'etre (reason for existing) is to hate and spread hate.
