Hate crime bill introduced in Wyoming, one of three states without such laws By Erin Donaghue
March 3, 2021 / 11:36 AM / CBS News
Wyoming lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill aimed at combating hate crimes in the state, one of three remaining with no laws against bias-motivated crimes on its books. The move comes after a push by advocates in the state where gay college student Matthew Shepard was killed in 1998.
More than two decades later, Wyoming remains without the law even though the 2009 federal anti-hate crime law bears Shepard s name. A state hate crime bill narrowly failed to pass the legislature the year after Shepard s killing, and several more attempts to introduce bills since then have failed to gain traction, according to a report on hate crimes in Wyoming issued by an advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.