Hundreds of people flocked to Philadelphia’s LOVE Park, despite the rain, to rally for a hate crimes bill to protect LGBT people.
Lawmakers, the Philadelphia District Attorney, friends, and community leaders joined 200 to 300 people in Philadelphia’s LOVE Park to send the Pennsylvania legislature a strong message: pass the hate crime bill now.
Democratic Rep. Brian Sims organized the event. In an impassioned speech on Tuesday, Sims called “B.S.” on lawmakers scuttling the legislation. “There’s no place in Pennsylvania that people pretend we don’t exist more than here in the Capitol,” Sims said.
The Sept. 11 anti-gay hate attack — technically not a “crime” under current Pennsylvania law — on a same-sex couple in downtown Philly has rocked the town and become international news.Â
Telling the crowd, “I want to be empowered,†Rep. Sims said hate crime “in the United States is not decreasing, due in part to inaction by states. Our state has a moral responsibility to address hate crimes, and we remain complicit if we fail to pass hate-crime legislation that protects those of us that are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people, or those who are perceived to be.â€
Friend of the same-sex couple who were brutally beaten in landed in the hospital, Caryn Kunkle (photo in tweet above), read their statement. “No one should be afraid to love who they love, no one should live in fear,” they wanted the crowd to know. The two are “still healing,” CBS reports. She added the couple is “determined to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else, ever again.”
State senator Larry Farnese says the legislation could be voted on, and possibly pass, “within a few days.”
Â