“It’s our custom, here in the South, here in Jasper. We have the same cemetery, but we don’t mix the white and the black graves. They’re separate. Put a black up here? No, no, we wouldn’t do that. That would be against our custom, against our way of doing things.” – Albert K. Snell, 80, [...]

UPDATE (9PM ET): More reactions are below the fold. From National Center for Transgender Equality: Hate Crimes Bill Passes Historic First Federal Protections of Transgender People In an historic move, the United States Senate, by a vote of 68 to 29, joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. [...]