As some of you already know, it is not only immorally wrong to commit a hate crime against houses of worship, religious community centers and other organizations that have a religious affiliation, but is also illegal to do so.  Given the rise of such hate crimes throughout the State of Connecticut, a new bill was introduced and passed to strengthen, expand and punish those who commit such heinous crimes.

Effective October 1, 2017, public act 17-111 will become effective to now broaden hate crimes to include bias against the gender of a person, establish a State-Wide Hate Crimes Advisory Council, establish text and telephone hotlines to provide assistance for persons inquiring about or reporting hate crimes and providing employees protections if they need time from work to care for a child whose school or day care center is evacuated or closed due to a threat of violence.

Many of you also do not know that if you are a victim of such a hate crime, you can file a complaint and have it investigated.  If you would like assistance because you or someone you know has been the subject of such a crime, give us a call to see if we can assist you or direct you to an attorney or state agency that can help!

More to come as I learn more….

#publicact17-111