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Maybe you've heard the story of Matthew Shepard, the unwilling martyr of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Nine years ago this month, Shepard, a college freshman in Laramie, Wyo., was pistol-whipped, robbed and tied to a fencepost along a Wyoming back road. Savagely beaten and barely alive, Shepard died five days later as a result of severe head trauma.

His two attackers quickly confessed to the murders. Their defense? "Gay panic." Shepard was putting the moves on them, they said, and one's girlfriend testified that "they just wanted to beat him bad enough to teach him a lesson." The homophobic slurs the attackers themselves used in their reports to police speak volumes of the driving force behind their violence.

Although Shepard's murder was a clear example of homophobia-driven violence, local law enforcement in Laramie lacked the funds to prosecute the attack as a hate crime, furloughing five officers to cover the costs of the case. Had Shepard been killed as a result of his race or religion, the Laramie law enforcement could have requested federal assistance in prosecuting his murder as a hate crime.

As it was, such federal intervention was not an option. Why? The answer is both simple and simply maddening: Crimes committed as a result of victim's sexual orientation, no matter how brutal, are ineligible for federal intervention. Under the current legislation's restrictive criteria, struggling local authorities are only eligible to receive help from the federal government in prosecuting hate crimes when the victim is targeted as a result of race, religion or national origin.

A recently passed piece of legislation seeks to seal the loophole that leaves the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community susceptible to horrific acts of brutality. The Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was designed to honor its namesake's legacy by ensuring that violent crimes targeted against the GLBT community do not go unpunished. More importantly, the bill will ensure that these crimes are prosecuted for what they really are — hate crimes.

Under this legislation, crimes committed as a result of victims' gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability would all become punishable under federal law, granting the pursuit of justice to victims overlooked by current legislation. In cases where local law enforcement is unable — or, sadly, unwilling — to prosecute an attack as a hate crime, the federal government would be authorized to intervene.

In August, the Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Act as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill. In a press release, bill sponsor Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., likened domestic hate crimes to international terrorism: "There is no reason why Congress should not act to strengthen our defenses against hate that occurs here at home," he wrote. Regardless, President George W. Bush has threatened to veto the authorization bill if it includes the hate crimes amendment.

The most shocking opposition to this piece of legislation has come from right-wing religious organizations, which claim such a law would jail clergy for preaching against homosexuality. Before the amendment's passage, TraditionalValues.org encouraged its constituents to oppose the Matthew Shepard Act "because it begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors and other Christians whose actions are based upon, and reflect, the truths found in the Bible."

The truth is that the Matthew Shepard Act would have no effect on those who condemn homosexuality through speech, no matter how hostile. What it would do is support the teachings of Leviticus 19:16, which tell us, "You may not stand idly by when your neighbor's blood is being shed." This amendment would protect the GLBT community from horrifying acts of bone-breaking, blood-drawing physical violence — violence that no religion purports to encourage.

Hate is neither a religious nor American value. Opposition to such crucial protective legislation is a moral affront to the values of a country that promises liberty and justice for all.

Fred Guttman is rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Greensboro.