May 04, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Civil rights activists were hopeful this week that the U.S. House of Representatives would disregard a furious, 11th-hour opposition campaign by anti-gay groups and vote to approve a hate crimes bill that includes protections for gays and transgender persons.

As debate got underway Thursday, the White House issued a statement that senior advisers would recommend that President Bush veto the measure.

“The Administration favors strong criminal penalties for violent crime, including crime based on personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion, or national origin. However, the Administration believes that H.R. 1592 is unnecessary and constitutionally questionable. If H.R. 1592 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill,” the statement read.

Debate on H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, was scheduled for Thursday on the House floor, with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) set to join Democratic and Republican House members in speaking in support of the bill.

Supporters received a boost Wednesday afternoon, when the Democratic-controlled House Rules Committee adopted a proposed “closed” rule, which bans amendments to the bill. If approved by the full House Thursday morning, as expected, the rule would prevent opponents from introducing a flood of amendments aimed at weakening or nullifying the bill’s effect.

The bill would give the federal government authority to prosecute hate crimes that target people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability. Under existing law, federal authorities already have the power to prosecute hate crimes based on race, color, national origin and religion.

“If there ever was a time for our community to act to pass hate crimes legislation, now is that time,” said Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, the national gay advocacy group that is coordinating efforts to pass the legislation.

“As expected, the anti-gay, extremist organizations have geared up their machines of hate to pump out an avalanche of lies about the intent of this legislation,” Solmonese said.

In the days leading up to the House debate and vote on the bill, HRC unleashed an unprecedented response to attacks against the legislation by conservative religious groups, according to HRC spokesperson Luis Vizcaino.

Using videos on their respective web sites, along with the popular online video site YouTube, some of the anti-gay groups described the hate crimes measure as a “thought control” bill aimed at prosecuting preachers for citing biblical passages that portray homosexuality as a sin.

“This so-called hate crimes bill begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners and anyone else whose actions are based upon, and reflect, the truths found in the Bible,” said Rev. Louis Sheldon, chair of the Traditional Values Coalition.

Last month, the anti-gay groups attacked the bill for its inclusion of protections for transgender persons victimized by hate crimes, saying the legislation would promote “cross-dressing” and “transsexualism.”

HRC responded by issuing a series of press releases by e-mail with a link to HRC’s posting of its own video on YouTube. The HRC video shows Solmonese describing the text of the bill, which states that the legislation applies only to violent crimes against people and bans any restrictions against speech.

“It’s no surprise the religious right is so concerned about hate speech — for them, hate appears to be a cottage industry,” Solmonese said.

Sheldon and officials with other religious-right groups, including Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, called on their members to urge Congress to defeat the bill on grounds that it would curtail the right of religious leaders to speak out against homosexuality.

Supporters of the bill, including gay Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), have said they were confident that most members of Congress would see through the sensational statements of the anti-gay groups and conclude that the legislation does not restrict speech.

 Appearing resigned to the belief that Congress would likely pass the hate crimes bill, officials with several anti-gay groups called on President Bush to veto the measure as the only means of stopping it from becoming law.

The White House has repeatedly refused to disclose whether the president would sign or veto the hate crimes bill and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, a civil rights bill that bans job discrimination against gays and transgender persons. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate said they plan to bring ENDA to a vote later this year.

But that changed Thursday morning with the White House announcement that “senior advisers” are now recommending a hate crimes veto.

The announcement said the hate crimes bill would leave other groups, ...