House votes to expand definition of hate crimes

Crimes committed because of a victim's sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability would be added to the federal law. A Senate vote could come next week.

By CARL HULSE, New York Times

Last update: October 9, 2009 - 8:09 AM

WASHINGTON - The House voted Thursday to expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to cover those committed because of a victim's sexual orientation, a step that would extend new protection to lesbian, gay and transgender people.

Democrats hailed the 281 -146 vote, which brought the measure to the brink of becoming law, as the culmination of a long push to curb violent expressions of bias such as the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student.

"Left unchecked, crimes of this kind threaten to ruin the very fabric of America," said Rep. Susan A. Davis, D-Calif., a leading supporter of the legislation.

Under current federal law, hate crimes that fall under federal jurisdiction are defined as those motivated by the victim's race, color, religion or national origin.

The new measure would broaden the definition to include those committed because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It was approved by the House right before a weekend when gay rights will be in the news, with a march to the Capitol and a speech by President Obama to the Human Rights Campaign.

GOP leader calls it radical social policy

Republicans criticized the legislation, saying violent attacks were already illegal. They said the measure was an effort to create a class of "thought crimes" whose prosecution would require ascribing motivation to the attacker.

Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, called the legislation radical social policy. "The idea that we're going to pass a law that's going to add further charges to someone based on what they may have been thinking, I think is wrong," Boehner said.

Republicans were also furious that the measure was attached to an essential $681 billion military policy bill, and accused Democrats of legislative blackmail.

Even some Republican members of the usually collegial House Armed Services Committee who helped write the broader legislation, which authorizes military pay, benefits, weapons programs and other necessities for the armed forces, opposed the bill in the end, solely because of the hate crimes provision.

A divided vote, for Minnesotans, too

On the final vote, 237 Democrats were joined by 44 Republicans in support of the bill; 131 Republicans and 15 Democrats opposed it. The Democratic opponents were a mix of conservatives against the hate crimes bill and liberals opposed to the Pentagon legislation.

Minnesota's House delegation was split. Voting "yes" were Democrats Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar, and Tim Walz and Republican Erik Paulsen. Voting "no" were Republicans Michele Bachmann and John Kline and Democrat Collin Peterson.

The final Pentagon measure must still be approved by the Senate, which could vote as early as next week. But the hate crimes provision has solid support there and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said the contents of the overall measure outweighed his own objections to including the hate crimes provision.

The legislation is known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named for Shepard and a black man killed in a race-based attack in Texas the same year.

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