Federal hate crimes legislation that includes gays and lesbians passed the first time that it came up for a recorded vote in the Senate, on the afternoon of June 20. The margin of victory was a surprisingly strong 57-42.
'We went in this morning with 50 votes,' said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) , 'and never stopped working. Thousands of calls and faxes went into offices. It was an amazing effort on the part of the entire coalition' of civil rights, religious, and gay organizations.
The measure this year was called the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2000, with primary cosponsorship by Senators Ted Kennedy ( D-Massachusetts ) and Gordon Smith ( R-Oregon ) . It was adopted as an amendment to the appropriations bill for the Department of Defense.
The measure would add gender, sexual orientation, and disability to protected classes under current federal law. It would offer legal grounds for federal assistance with these types of crimes where local authorities request it, orfederal intervention when there was reason to believe that local officials were not adequately pursuing such crimes.
A lesser measure offered by Sen. Orrin Hatch ( R-Utah ) , chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would not include disability or sexual orientation as protected groups. It would study them for possible future inclusion. Hatch said, 'There is little evidence that a broad federalization of hate crimes is warranted.' It passed 50-49. HRC urged Senators to vote against the Hatch amendment and for the Kennedy-Smith amendment. Last year they had been content to say that Hatch's proposal did not go far enough but did not actively oppose it. Earlier in the day Sen. Smith argued that once a Republican Senator voted for the Hatch proposal, he or she was free to vote for the Kennedy-Smith bill. That is what happened as 13 Republicans joined all but one Democrat, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, in supporting the measure. The White House had campaigned hard for the bill. Vice President Al Gore had broken off campaigning in Kentucky to return to Washington in anticipation of voting in the case of a tie. It didn't come over hate crimes but it nearly did over a measure to allow female service members overseas to have abortions at military hospitals, if they paid for it themselves. That failed by the whisker of 49-50. Stachelberg said the Hatch and Kennedy-Smith bills 'are not mutually exclusive. There clearly are ways that the two can be melded to make a better bill.'
NEWS CONFERENCE
Supporters of the bill had waged an aggressive public campaign, including a column by Smith in the June 19 edition of the Washington Post. They followed up with a news conference on the morning of the vote.
It's an embarrassment that we haven't already acted to close these glaring gaps,' Kennedy said. 'Current federal laws are clearly inadequate. They don't apply at all to hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, or disability. And they contain excessively narrow restrictions in the case of hate crimes based on race, religion, or ethnic background.'
'I want to be honest with you,' said cosponsor Smith, 'If the words sexual orientation were not a part of this bill, we wouldn't be having this debate, we would have a near unanimous vote.'
Smith addressed religious conservatives when he said, 'The founder of the Christian religion shamed the sanctimonious of his day into dropping their stones, and we can do the same. We no more endorse the lifestyle today than he did in his day. We should stand in opposition to violence, against all people, no matter what their uniquenesses are.'
Sen. Richard Durbin ( D-Illinois ) praised Smith for his 'exceptional political courage' in support of the legislation. He turned to the record of 150 years in the Senate and said, 'Every time the issue of human rights comes before the chamber, those on the other side always, ALWAYS argue that it is a matter of states rights. They never stand to defend prejudice, or bigotry, or hatred.'
Sen. Arlen Specter ( R-Pennsylvania ) said that the legislation 'has gotten a substantial boost forward over the last years by the deaths of James Byrd and Matthew Shepard, and the recent passage of hate crimes legislation in New York State. 'Gays are not being singled out,' he said, 'the thrust is equal protection.'
We are not going to stop hate crimes by gathering more statistics and doing more studies,' said Sen. Ron Wyden ( D-Oregon ) criticizing the Hatch approach. 'We are going to stop hate crimes by having the partnership that mobilizes state and local officials, backed up by the federal government.'
'I once thought that all crimes were hate crimes,' said Laramie, Wyoming police commander David O'Malley. But after participating in the investigating of Matthew Shepard's murder, 'I've never seen a clearer example of hate motivated crime and the negative ramifications is has had on our society.' He said that the Albany County Sheriff's Department had to furlough five deputies 'due to the costs associated with investigating and prosecuting' Shepard's killers. He urged passage of the bill as a way to bring added resources to local law enforcement in combating hate crimes.
Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, called Kennedy-Smith the organization's 'top priority.' He said there are two compelling reasons for its passage. 'First, civil rights has to be measured
by a single yardstick.' Second, 'it fills the gaps that exist in current law.' Last year the Senate simultaneously passed both Kennedy's and Hatch's versions of hate crimes legislation by unanimous consent and without debate as amendments to the appropriations bill for the departments of Commerce, State, and Justice. The House did not act on similar legislation and the matter died in conference.
It seems unlikely that the House will formally vote on a hate crimes bill this year. But Republicans may seek political protection from charges of being antigay by allowing a floor vote, or perhaps by acquiescing to the >Senate when the bill goes to conference.
Stoking Stachelberg's optimism is the fact that 'many Republican Senators who are in tough reelection races, voted for this measure. I think it is a winning campaign issue and we need to work closely with both Republican and Democratic supporters in the House to come up with something that fits there needs.'