OTTAWA, March 21 (UPI) -- The House of Commons in Canada has narrowly approved a bill that would make violence against transgender people a hate crime.
The bill would make attacks on the transgendered subject to the criminal code's hate-crimes provisions and would also grant transgendered people protections under the Canadian Human Rights Act, PostMedia News said.
After the 149-137 vote in the House, the New Democratic Party, who is backing the bill, urged the Senate to pass the measure.
"We must continue to act on this important issue and, now that the bill has passed through the House of Commons, we urge the Senate to move quickly to guarantee the same rights and protections for transsexual, transgender and gender-variant Canadians that all of us enjoy," Member of Parliament Randall Garrison, NDP-B.C., said.
PostMedia News said how the bill will fare in the Senate is not clear, as there is no NDP representation in the body.
