John Kerry: “in October 1998, I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building at a candlelight vigil for Matthew Shepard, the young…”

“in October 1998, I stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building at a candlelight vigil for Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was beaten and left for dead on a lonely Wyoming roadway. Two thugs were arrested, charged and convicted of murdering Matthew Shepard because of his sexual orientation. Tens of thousands of people--gay and straight, black and white, young and old, Americans all--came to the Capitol with only a few hours notice to encourage the passage of a Federal hate crimes law. The evening was memorable. We expressed our passionate conviction and knowledge that there is no room in our country for the kind of vicious, terrible, pathetic, ignorant hatred that took the life of Matthew Shepard, or of James Byrd, or of Barry Winchell, or of Brandon Teena. And the Congress responded. We came close to extending the federal hate crimes law that year, but the provision was dropped in conference. So, we came back again to guarantee that crimes will not be tolerated when they are motivated by other people's limitations. We are here to reaffirm that hate crimes are indeed an insult to our civilization.”