The National Organization for Women is celebrating Valentine's Day by demonstrating outside the Department of Justice (DOJ), calling for an end to hate crimes. Just in time for V-Day, an FBI report released yesterday revealed that hate and bias-motivated murders have reached a five-year high -- the numbers are shocking and must spur action.

The FBI report shows a rise in bias-related crimes based on race, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity and religion. What's missing here? Gender-bias is not included and is not even legally recognized as a hate crime.

While conservative members of Congress sit on Capitol Hill insisting that these bias-related crimes don't deserve federal attention, we continue to face violence based on our gender, sexual orientation or disability -- three categories excluded from current hate crime laws.  How many more of us will be harassed, abused and murdered before this Congress expands and passes hate crimes legislation? The Department of Justice must work hand-in-hand with Congress to help stop hate crimes.

Across the United States, women are targets of hate crimes every day.  Hate crimes have a chilling effect on every woman's life. The threat of such crimes instills fear in all women (not just victims and survivors), limiting where we work, live and study.

Women charging state and local authorities with failure or refusal to enforce the law, especially restraining orders, reportedly make up the largest number of complaints received by the Office of Violence Against Women at the Justice Department. Additionally, the office has received complaints alleging that some local law enforcement personnel have covered up hate crimes against women.

Today we are calling on the Department of Justice to take a stand for women's lives and reminding Attorney General John Ashcroft that we are keeping an eye on him and expect him to uphold the Constitution and rigorously enforce hate crimes laws.