Hate-crimes definition expanded by House

WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to cover those committed because of a victim's sexual orientation, a step that would extend new protection to lesbian, gay and transgender people.

Democrats hailed the vote of 281-146, which brought the measure to the brink of becoming law, as the culmination of a long push to curb violent expressions of bias, such as the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student.

"Left unchecked, crimes of this kind threaten to ruin the very fabric of America," said Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., a leading supporter of the legislation.

Under current federal law, hate crimes that fall under federal jurisdiction are defined as those motivated by the victim's race, color, religion or national origin.

The new measure would broaden the definition to include those committed because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

It was approved by the House right before a weekend that gay rights will be a focus in Washington, with a march to the Capitol and a speech by President Obama to the Human Rights Campaign.

Republicans said the measure was an effort to create a class of "thought crimes" whose prosecution would require ascribing motivation to the attacker.

Republicans were also furious that the measure was attached to an essential $681 billion military-policy bill, and accused Democrats of legislative blackmail.

Even some Republican members of the usually collegial House Armed Services Committee who helped write the broader legislation, which authorizes military pay, benefits, weapons programs and other necessities for the armed forces, opposed the bill in the end, solely because of the hate-crimes provision.

"We believe this is a poison pill, poisonous enough that we refuse to be blackmailed into voting for a piece of social agenda that has no place in this bill," said Rep. Todd Akin, of Missouri, a senior Republican member of the committee.

On the final vote, 237 Democrats were joined by 44 Republicans in support of the bill; 131 Republicans and 15 Democrats opposed it. In the Washington delegation, Democrat Brian Baird joined Republicans Doc Hastings and Cathy McMorris Rodgers in voting against the measure, while Republican Dave Reichert joined Democrats Norm Dicks, Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Jim McDermott and Adam Smith in voting for the measure.

The final Pentagon measure is still subject to approval by the Senate.

Obama supports the hate-crimes measure, though the administration has raised objections to other elements of the bill related to military acquisitions.

The hate-crimes legislation allocates $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating such crimes, a process that can sometimes strain local police resources. It allows the Justice Department to assist in the inquiry and prosecution of such crimes if requested by local authorities.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the FBI recorded reports of more than 77,000 hate crimes from 1998 through 2007 and that crimes based on sexual orientation were rising.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.