An editorial published on Tuesday by the New York Times commends the approval of the so-called Matthew Shepard Act by the House of Representatives, after a strong show of support from the public. The bill passed 249 to 175 in the House, and the editorial hopes that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid will bring a vote about in the Senate quickly. The bill is named after Matthew Shepard, a 21 year-old student at the University of Wyoming, who was tortured and murdered in 1998 for being gay. His death motivated many across the country to pursue legislation that would extend the hate-crime designation to include homosexuals. The bill has been a long time coming, and was stalled two years ago when President Bush threatened to veto it. The bill would provide more funding to state and local authorities in order to prosecute hate-crimes. There is still a holdout minority in the house, led by the outspoken Virginia Foxx, the Republican representative from none other than North Carolina, who are strongly opposed to the bill. Mrs. Foxx called Shepard’s death a “hoax” and refused to acknowledge that he was a target because he was gay.

In Sierra Leone, judges decided to rule against acquitting former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor on war crimes charges. Mr. Taylor’s acquittal trial is set to begin at the end of next month. The judges, while making it clear that a conviction was not guaranteed, said that the prosecution had enough evidence to support accusations against Mr. Taylor. He has currently pleaded not guilty to a total of eleven charges. It is estimated that somewhere around 250,000 people died in the wars between Liberia and the Sierra Leone. Lawyers for Mr. Taylor have said that the charges should be dropped because there is no evidence to prove that he planned any atrocities before they occurred. Taylor has been on trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hauge since 2007.

All across the globe, Mexican citizens are feeling the stigma associated with the fears of the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as Swine Flu. Although it is popular belief that the disease originated in Mexico, Mexican officials dispute that claim. They say that the disease actually began in Southern California. Some people in the United States and other countries have begun to refer to the disease as the “Mexican Flu”. In China, officials have quarantined a significant number of healthy Mexicans and Mexican travelers. One man was found to have the disease and the rest of the people on his flight were immediately quarantined. The Mexican government has accused China of improperly handling its citizens. Chile has also refused a request from Mexican sports teams for the Chileans to host two games in their country. Mexican officials have condemned that actions of China and other countries saying that their methods are outdated and fueled by an ignorance of the situation.

This victory has been a long time coming for the homosexual community. In the years after Matthew Shepard’s murder, thousands of people have advocated for hate crimes laws to extend to cover homosexuals. There will always be holdouts to massive changes, such as this one, but the nation as a whole is beginning to realize the importance of this issue. Not only has this bill been passed in the House (and hopefully soon in the Senate), but multiple states have now begun to approve legislation for gay marriage. The approval of the Matthew Shepard Act is a great step forward for our nation as a whole.

We can only hope that the judges in the Sierra Leone continue to be as hard on Mr. Taylor as they have been up to this point. He is a hardened criminal, and it appears that the prosecution has significant evidence against him. His defense attorneys do not have much ground to stand on when claiming that none of his actions were premeditated. I remain strongly convinced that Mr. Taylor’s appeal will fail in June and he will get the punishment he deserves. This trial is important for the whole of Africa. The continent needs to demonstrate that justice can prevail and a miscarriage of that could prove disastrous.

Regardless of whether Swine Flu originated in Mexico, Mexican citizens deserve to be treated the same way as all other travelers. In today’s interdependent world, citizens from every nation were probably in Mexico City at the time of the outbreak. Those people deserve as much attention as Mexicans. Healthy Mexicans should not be bothered, especially by such arcane methods as quarantine. I understand that the Chinese are concerned that a possible repeat of the SARS epidemic, but, as recent reports have shown, the disease is not thought to be as deadly as once predicted. We must all be careful of stigma.