Read an October 28, 2009, story on CNN.com about President Obama signing a bill that makes it a crime to assault someone based on their sexuality or gender.

Denise Eger is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, Calif. She is a well-known activist, most specifically with organizations devoted to fighting AIDS as well as on LGBT issues. The synagogue’s religious school has LGBT students and children of LGBT parents, and the rabbi runs a teen support group at the synagogue twice a […]

Valerie Jenness is a professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine. She is the co-author of two books on hate crimes, including Making Hate a Crime: From Social Movement to Law Enforcement.

Christopher Marsh is director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The institute works to advance religious liberty in the United States and around the world. Marsh’s research interests include religion and violence.

Bishop Carlton Pearson is senior pastor of New Dimensions Worship Center in Chicago, a Pentecostal Christian church.

Marvin Winans is pastor of Perfecting Church in Detroit and an award-winning gospel singer.

Craig Mousin is director of the Center for Church-State Studies at DePaul University law school in Chicago. The nondenominational center promotes debate and discussion about the First Amendment and the Establishment Clause.

Jeannine Bell is a law professor at Indiana University in Bloomington and the author of Policing Hatred: Law Enforcement, Civil Rights and Hate Crime.

Bryan K. Fair is a professor at the University of Alabama law school, where his specialties include the First Amendment, and gender and the legal system.