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Philadelphia City Council Pushes Hate Crime Ordinance in Wake of Attack

Philadelphia is poised to pass a new ordinance aimed at toughening the punishment of crimes committed on the basis of someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

People waiving LGBTQ pride flag at the 26th Annual Pride Parade on the streets of Center City Philadelphia in June 2014. Nata Sha / Shutterstock.com

Philadelphia is poised to pass a new ordinance aimed at toughening the punishment of crimes committed on the basis of someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

The ordinance, introduced Thursday, comes on the heels of the brutal beating of a gay couple in Philadelphia this month, when two men were assaulted in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood by a group of people who reportedly used homophobic slurs in the moments before the attack.

Three suspects have been arrested and face multiple assault charges. Though the incident has been widely called a hate crime, state law prevents the suspects from being charged for such a crime.

Hate crimes in Pennsylvania are limited to offenses motivated by “malicious intention toward the race, color, religion or national origin” of a person, with no mention of sexuality. The Philadelphia ordinance would amend the so-called ethnic intimidation statute to include gender- and sexuality-based violence as part of the definition of a hate crime.

The ordinance introduced on Thursday would add penalties for any crime motivated out of the hatred toward a person’s “perceived sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, or disability.” The penalty for committing a hate crime would be up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

State lawmakers have introduced a similar bill to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the definition of a hate crime, along with several other characteristics. The bill, HB 177 in the state house and SB 42 in the senate, was introduced last year and has been stalled in judiciary committee since then.

The Philadelphia City Council ordinance will almost surely pass: it was co-sponsored by every council member. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who introduced the ordinance, told BuzzFeed that in Philadelphia, “we value diversity and diversity matters, and for those who don’t get it, there’s a price to be paid.”

In the meantime, the Philadelphia City Council is looking to federal laws. Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kenney, in a letter sent to the U.S. Attorney for Eastern District Pennsylvania, asked that the suspects will be prosecuted under federal hate crime laws, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Because of the seriousness of these offenses, and the obvious discriminatory intent of the perpetrators, I respectfully ask that the Department of Justice partner with the Philadelphia District Attorney and Philadelphia Police Department to conduct an investigation and bring Federal charges against these individuals,” the letter reads.