Highlights: - Delegate Sullivan’s House Bill 276 codifies the current practice of reporting hate crimes against people based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability status. Delegate Sullivan has advocated for a similar bill since 2014.
- Delegate Plum’s House Bill 618 ensures that women, LGBTQ people, and disabled folks have access to the same legal protections and courses of action when they are survivors of a hate crime. Delegate Plum has advocated for a similar bill for decades.
- Attorney General Herring explained that hate crimes are different from other crimes because they are intended to intimidate an entire community of people, in addition to the survivor. He also noted that the legislation allows the Attorney General’s office to prosecute hate crimes. Currently, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes are the third highest type of hate crimes in Virginia.
- Ebony said VAVP has seen an increase in hate crimes, but notes that hate crimes are severely under-reported. This legislation will allow for required reporting of hate crimes, a direct course of action for survivors, and better data points to inform programming and advocacy, especially around prevention.
- Jonathan echoed the need for prevention and building capacity across direct service providers, community advocates, and law enforcement to make sure LGBTQ people feel safe and have their concerns heard. This legislation means we may see more people reporting hate crimes because they finally feel comfortable to do so.
- AG Herring noted there are more efforts to train law enforcement and prosecutors on trauma-informed care in interacting with survivors, especially related to hate crimes and interpersonal violence.
- Having these laws will empower training on violence prevention to include women, LGBTQ people, and disabled folks.
- VAVP and VSDVAA wanted people to know that they are still providing survivors with services despite the COVID-19 pandemic. VSDVAA will have more information about the many services survivors can still access even during COVID-19.
We hope you will join us for the rest of this series to learn more about the many pro-equality bills that passed in the General Assembly and find out what they mean for the community. Click here to see the schedule, read the descriptions, and register. Registration is free and required to participate. Don’t forget to invite your friends and family too! | |
Please join us on Tuesday, April 14, from 12:00-1:00pm, for our next Legislative Lunch & Learn to celebrate the ban on practicing “conversion therapy” on minors. Speakers will include Senator Scott Surovell, Delegate Patrick Hope, Casey Pick from The Trevor Project, Adam Trimmer from Born Perfect, and Scott Price with the Alliance for a Progressive Virginia. We can't wait to see you! In Solidarity,
All of us at Equality Virginia | |
