STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) – The brutal killings of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and James Byrd in Texas have helped spur United Methodist women to expand their efforts in fighting hate crimes.

Directors of the Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries took the action against hate crimes at their Oct. 16-19 annual meeting. The division is the administrative body of United Methodist Women (UMW).

Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten by two men and died on Oct. 12, after five days in a coma. In early June, Byrd, an African American, was beaten by three white men and dragged to his death behind a pickup truck.

Directors of the Women's Division agreed to encourage UMW members to organize and advocate for stronger hate crime laws. The division will create resources to help members "analyze the language of intolerance among groups that use religious language and emotionally charged images to camouflage their intention."

The division also will:

• Provide funding to community-based networks that provide education for tolerance.
• Track hate crimes through the news media and other sources, and engage in a media campaign to promote tolerance and report hate crimes.
• Provide biblically based resources that address hate crimes and intolerance, and work on an interfaith level to create worship resources promoting tolerance.
• Work with grass roots and national organizations to create joint strategies that address hate crimes.
• Contact all state governors, urging them to appoint a task force to investigate hate crimes.
• Work through local organizations and schools to review policies and training programs related to discrimination and sexual harassment.

"United Methodist Women have historically been proactive about issues of race and gender," said Lois Dauway, assistant general secretary for Christian Social Responsibility. "We must act to stop the increasing incidents of hate crimes in our society."

A resolution on global racism passed by the 1996 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, states that United Methodists will work "in coalition with secular groups to monitor and actively combat the activities of hate groups, extremist groups and militia groups in the United States and other parts of the world."

In other business, division directors voted to send one or more delegates to several events, including a peace meeting in The Hague, Netherlands; The Older Women's League national convention, Nov. 6-8, in Washington, D.C.; the Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project Conference, April 8-11, in San Antonio, Texas; the Jobs With Justice meeting, Feb. 26-28, in Louisville, Ky.; and the Second Cultural Environment Movement Convention, March 25-28, in Athens, Ohio.

Directors also agreed to contribute $15,000 to support the Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign, an ecumenical and secular coalition aimed at reducing the global debt crisis.