Washington, DC - In a document just obtained by Wired Strategies, the House Republican Conference (an arm of the US House of Representatives Republican leadership) is taking credit for having "stopped" the hate crimes bill.

In a spontaneous show of anger and support, nearly 100 vigils have taken place around the U.S. and Canada to honor Shepard, highlight the menace of hate crimes, and demand that Congress immediately pass hate crimes legislation.

Concerned individuals across the U.S. and from as far as Zimbabwe, Australia, and Russia sent emails to the United States Congress, the Wyoming Governor, and Web sites devoted to Matthew Shepard's memory, expressing their concern about the Shepard case, and the need to pass hate crimes legislation.

In addition, Americans nationwide, and in countries as far as Hong Kong, telephoned U.S. members of Congress over the last several days to demand passage of the bill.

The House document attacks the hate crimes bill as being a part of "the President's big-government agenda," and calls the death of the legislation "a win for conservative priorities."

Under a section entitled "Reinventing Big-government -- Presidential Priorities the Congress Stopped", the House leadership lists: "'Hate crime' proposals that criminalize motive rather than punish violent crime."

In a phone call this past Friday, Senator Lott's staff told a supporter that the legislation would die because it was simply too late to bring it up this year - the staffer gave no indication of the partisan strategy that now seems to be the reason for the bill's death.

The decision to kill the legislation came on the heels of a new Time/CNN poll released last Saturday finding that 75% of Americans think the problem of violence against homosexuals is serious across the country.

"The House leadership has dishonored the memory of Matthew Shepard for partisan political gain," said John Aravosis, an Internet consultant who has been maintaining a Web site about the Shepard case http://www.wiredstrategies.com/shepard.htm.

"It's incredible that House Republicans would brag about killing a bill that protects the disabled, women and gay people from beating brutalized by hate," he added.

"Hate is not a family value, but it seems to be a conservative one," continued Aravosis. "This wasn't a partisan issue, it was about the savage murder of a kid that shocked millions of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats," Aravosis added, "Is that all Matt's death meant to Gingrich - a chance to slam the President? Is he that out of touch?"

The House Republican Conference document can be found on the Internet at: http://143.231.67.32/issuefocus/talkingpoints/tpmain/score.htm.

The site includes: