October 8, 2009
By Carl Hulse
The House voted Thursday to
expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to cover those committed because of a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Democrats and advocates hailed the vote of 281 to 146, which put the measure on the brink of becoming law, as the culmination of a long push to curb violent expressions of bias such as the murder in 1998 of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student.
“Left unchecked crimes of this kind threaten to ruin the very fabric of America,” said Representative Susan Davis, Democrat of California.
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Republicans said Democrats were essentially forcing through
contentious social policy by tying it to a highly popular Pentagon measure that authorizes military pay, benefits, weapons programs and other essentials for the armed forces. Even Republican members of the Armed Services Committee who helped write the underlying legislation said they would oppose it solely because of the hate crimes proposal
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