Lunch w/Greg: Obama to sign hate crime bill tomorrow; Dustin Lance Black barred from speaking at college

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday!

The timing of my posts have been a little erratic the past few days but hopefully I’ll get back on track tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow, that’s the day that President Barack Obama will sign into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

I’ve posted a photo above of the president with Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard, from a brief Oval Office meeting she had with Obama earlier this year. It really is Judy who has endured a long, hard climb to get to this day and who had to endure President Bush’s refusal to sign similar legislation.

Judy Shepard will join Obama at a Rose Garden ceremony for the signing along with her husband Dennis (Matthew’s father) and their other son Logan. Representing James Byrd’s family will be son James Byrd Jr. and sisters Betty Byrd Boatner and Louvon Harris.

Matthew was a college student when he was tortured by two men and left to die in a gay hate crime 11 years ago in Laramie, Wyoming. Byrd was beaten behind as convenience store in Jasper, Texas, by three men who stripped him naked, chained him by the ankles to their pickup truck, and dragged him for three miles.

The hate crimes bill is part of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. It allows for added charges and harsher jail sentences for those convicted of what is deemed to be a hate crime, a crime against somebody’s race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. It also means the federal government could step in to prosecute in states that request it or in those who choose not to prosecute.

After the signing, there will be a reception in the East Room of the White House commemorating the occasion which will be attended by LGBT advocates, civil rights leaders and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.

BLACK TOO OPINIONATED? If I were a parent paying the tuition for my child to attend Hope College in Holland, Mich., I’d be really outraged about this.

Administrators at the private liberal arts college have barred Oscar winning screenwriter and gay rights advocate Dustin Lance Black from participating in a discussion on sexuality. They apparently believe his advocacy is divisive and not educational.

What planet are these people on?

Lance is in Michigan directing the film What’s Wrong With Virginia.

Towleroad reports via the student newspaper, Holland Sentinel that Hope College dean of students Richard Frost said that from past experience, strongly-opinionated speakers usually don’t further academic discussions about gay, lesbian or transgender issues.

“We are willing to do these things, but for the college to do this, we have to be sure it’s educational,” Frost told the Sentinel. “It’s back-and-forth and educational. It’s not advocacy.”

It would be okay with Frost, however, for Lance to speak to a screenwriting class.