House OKs hate-crime bill

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted Thursday to extend hate-crime protection to people who were victimized because of their sexuality. But the most immediate effect may be to set up another veto showdown between Democrats and President Bush.

By 237-180, the House voted to cover crimes spurred by a victim's "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity" or disability under the hate-crime designation, which currently applies to people who are attacked because of their race, religion, color or national origin.

"The bill is passed," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is gay, announced to applause, mostly from Democrats.

Companion legislation is moving through the Senate. But even assuming that a bill emerges from the full Congress, it will face a veto by Bush on the grounds that it is "unnecessary and constitutionally questionable," the White House said. The vote to approve the bill did not come close to the two-thirds needed to override a veto.

The bill approved by the House, worded to cover people who are transsexual and transgender, would make it easier for federal authorities to take part in hate-crime investigations if local investigators are unable or unwilling to pursue them. The current hate-crime law protects people only while they are engaged in a federally protected activity, like voting or going to school, but the bill would lower the barriers.

Debate over the bill has been spirited, and while some of it has addressed whether the bill is necessary, arguments in the House and beyond have been colored by issues of conscience and personal morality.

"This is a historic day that moves all Americans closer to safety from the scourge of hate violence," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a major backer of the legislation.

Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in 1998, said in a statement, "I am personally grateful to the United States House for recognizing the grave reality of hate crimes in America."

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader, said the House vote represented "a statement of what America is, a society that understands that we accept differences."

But Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the minority leader, said the bill made no sense: "We're going to put into place a federal law that says that not only will we punish you for the crime that you actually commit, the physical crime that you commit, but we're also going to charge you with a crime if we think that you were thinking bad things about this person before you committed the crime."