Opposition

James Dobson, founder of the socially conservative lobbying group Focus on the Family, opposed the Act, arguing that it would effectively "muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." However, HR 1592 contains a "Rule of Construction" which specifically provides that "Nothing in this Act...shall be construed to prohibit any expressive conduct protected from legal prohibition by, or any activities protected by the free speech or free exercise clauses of, the First Amendment to the Constitution."

Senator Jeff Sessions, among other Senators, is concerned that the bill does not protect all individuals equally.

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has spoken against the bill, saying that the bill is unnecessary, that it violates the 14th Amendment which guarantees equal justice under the law, and that it would move us a step closer to the prosecution of thought crimes.

Origin

This act is named for a gay American student, Matthew Shepard, who was tortured and murdered in 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming. During the ensuing trial of his attackers, witnesses stated that Shepard was targeted because he was gay. His killers were not charged under hate crime laws because, at the time, the hate crime law in Wyoming did not recognize homosexual persons as a suspect class.
Shepard's murder and the subsequent trial brought subsequent national and international attention to the desire to amend U.S. hate crime legislation at both the state and federal levels.