Just hours after the White House issued a veto threat Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to add crimes motivated by gender Identity and sexual orientation to those covered by federal hate-crimes law.
The House legislation, passed 237–180, also makes it easier for federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the Senate, setting the stage for another veto showdown with President Bush.
''This is an important vote of conscience, of a statement of what America is, a society that understands that we accept differences,'' said House majority leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat.
Democratic congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the only openly gay man in the House, presided over the chamber as the final vote was taken.
The vote came after fierce lobbying from civil rights groups, who have been pushing for years for added protections against hate crimes, and social conservatives, who say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups of citizens for special protection.
The White House, in a statement warning of a veto, said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill and that there was ''no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.''
Administration officials also noted that the bill leaves other classes of people, such as the elderly, the military, and police officers, without similar status.
''Our criminal justice system has been built on the ideal of equal justice for all,'' said Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. ''Under this bill justice will no longer be equal, but depend on the race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or status of the victim.''
Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate-crimes protection. It was defeated on a mainly party-line vote.
Current federal hate-crimes law covers acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.
The House bill would extend the hate-crimes definition to include attacks motivated by sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability and give federal authorities greater leeway to participate in hate-crimes investigations. It approves $10 million over the next two years to help local law enforcement officials cover the cost of hate-crimes prosecutions.
Federal investigators could step in if local authorities are unwilling or unable to act. The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay rights group, said this federal intervention could have made a difference in the case of Brandon Teena, the young Nebraska transsexual depicted in the movie Boys Don't Cry, who was raped after two friends discovered he was biologically female and then murdered when local police did not arrest those responsible.
But James C. Dobson, founder of the far right group Focus on the Family, warned that the true intent of the bill was ''to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality.'' If you read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, ''you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.'''
''It does not impinge on public speech or writing in any way,'' countered Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, pointing out that the bill explicitly reaffirms First Amendment and free speech rights.
Conyers said in a statement that state and local authorities will continue to prosecute the overwhelming majority of such cases and the bill requires the attorney general or another high-ranking Justice Department official to approve any federal prosecutions.
The legislation restates already-enacted penalties. Those using guns to commit crimes defined under the bill face prison terms of up to 10 years. Crimes involving kidnapping or sexual assault or resulting in death can bring life terms.
The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said that racially motivated bias accounted for 55% of those incidents, religious bias for 17%, sexual orientation bias for 14%, and ethnicity bias for 14%. (Jim Abrams, AP)
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