Maryland hate-crime law would protect homeless

Maryland would become the first state to list the homeless as a class protected from hate crimes under legislation headed to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk.

The measure, championed by one of the Legislature's most conservative Republicans, was approved in the House of Delegates four minutes before the General Assembly adjourned at midnight Monday. O'Malley, a Democrat, is reviewing the bill, which also adds penalties for violent crimes against people targeted because of gender or disability.

Advocates called the law a symbolic and practical victory in the absence of similar protections in federal law and spoke of the often-vicious crimes against the homeless. Maine gives judges discretion in sentencing for crimes against the homeless, and Alaska includes them in its vulnerable-victims statute.

The hate-crime conviction in Maryland for a violent crime will carry an additional sentence of up 20 years and a $20,000 fine.

Sen. Alex Mooney said his first attempt to pass the bill, four years ago, was motivated by cynicism: He was offended by legislation adding sexual orientation to the list of protected categories, which includes race, religion and national origin.

The Republican proposed no fewer than 10 failed amendments to that bill, trying to add civil-rights leaders, doctors, lawyers, veterans, nurses and others, and offending many of his Democratic colleagues.

"I said, 'If we're going to open up this bottle, let's consider lots of other groups that don't have powerful lobbies in Annapolis,' " he said.

He was criticized for advocating for a group whose interests many believed he didn't take seriously.

Mooney is one of the Senate's staunchest opponents of gay rights, abortion, illegal immigration and government intrusion in private lives.

He said he started taking the homeless issue to heart after he watched a television clip in which a group of homeless people was beaten to death with baseball bats. "I realized homeless people are vulnerable people," Mooney said. National advocacy groups and the Maryland Catholic Conference rallied to his cause.

The bill passed the Senate two years running but stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers questioned whether singling out the homeless would dilute the hate-crimes statute.