Jun 18, 2004  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

The Senate voted 65-33 on Tuesday to add “sexual orientation” as a protected category to the federal hate crime law, as Senate Republicans announced they are planning to schedule a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment for mid-July, just before the Democratic National Convention convenes in Boston.

Eighteen Republicans joined all 47 Democrats in voting for the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, an amendment attached to the $422 billion Defense Department Authorization bill. The lone Senate Democrat not to vote for the measure was Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who was campaigning and missed the vote. Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) also skipped the vote.

To become law, the bill must still be passed by the House or adopted in a House-Senate conference, and then be signed by President Bush. The measure would add “real or perceived sexual orientation, gender and disability” to existing federal hate crime laws.

The leading sponsors of the bill, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass) and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) were instrumental in helping to pass the legislation, which has cleared the Senate on three previous occasions, only to be defeated in the House.

Smith told the Associated Press that because of the bill’s history in the House, the measure could be stripped during the final House-Senate negotiations.

“There’s no guarantee it won’t be, and there’s a real possibility that it will be,” Smith said.

The last time the Senate passed the hate crime measure, as an amendment to the Defense Department authorization in July 2000, the House leadership responded by passing a motion over objections from GOP leaders instructing House conferees to accept the Senate’s amendment that included the hate crime language.

But Republican leaders in both houses of Congress picked conferees who were hostile to the hate crime measure and it was nonetheless stripped during the House-Senate conference.

Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said her group will work “tirelessly in the House” to ensure that the measure survives a conference committee before it moves to President Bush.

“We hope the president is watching the strong bipartisan support,” Jacques said.

The White House did not respond to Blade inquiries but an Associated Press story quoting White House spokesperson Claire Buchan, reported, “The president believes anyone who commits a violent act should receive swift and sure punishment, and that all violent crime is a hate crime.”

“The president believes all individuals should be treated fairly and equally under the law,” Buchan added.

During the 2000 presidential debates, Bush sidestepped a question about hate crimes measures, saying he supported a proposal by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that hate crime law supporters said would gut their efforts.

By coincidence or not, on the same day the Senate overwhelmingly passed the hate crime measure, it was reported that Senate Republicans will seek a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in mid-July. Jacques said that a “yes” vote on hate crimes was in no way “some political inoculation from a pro-Federal Marriage Amendment vote.”

“There is nothing that would inoculate you should you support the FMA,” said Jacques in a clear warning to senators who voted in support of hate crimes and may vote in favor of the FMA.

Chris LaBonte, deputy director for legislation at HRC, said that the language in the hate crime measure will cover crimes motivated by the victim’s gender identity or expression, noting that “similar state legislation has been interpreted in state courts to protect the rights of transgender Americans.”

That interpretation has in the past been questioned by transgender rights activists, who have demanded specific language on the issue be included.

FMA vote timed for convention
A Roll Call story on Tuesday reported that the Senate Republican leadership is seeking a mid-July vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment. The controversial issue will be taken up just before the Democrats convene in Boston for their presidential nominating convention.

Chris Barron, political director for the Log Cabin Republicans, said there are Republicans who want to get Democrats on the record on the gay marriage issue before the Democrats hold their convention in Massachusetts, the only state issuing licenses to same-sex couples.

Republican Conference Chair Sen. Rick Santorum told Roll Call that the leadership has yet to announce a specific date for the vote.

“We are sort of running the traps on this right now, and sort of seeing what kind of response we are getting,” Santorum told Roll Call.

Senate Majority Leader trong>Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told a group of Christian leaders ...

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