The US House voted to expand federal hate crime categories to include violent attacks against gays and people targeted because of gender, acting just hours after the White House threatened a veto.
The legislation, passed 237-180, also would make it easier for federal law enforcement to take part in or assist local prosecutions involving bias-motivated attacks. Similar legislation is also moving through the Senate, setting the stage for a possible veto showdown with US President George W. Bush.
"This is an important vote of conscience, of a statement of what America is, a society that understands that we accept differences," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said.
Hate crimes under current federal law apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color, or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.
Representative Barney Frank, the only openly gay man in the House, presided over the chamber as the final vote was taken.
The vote came after fierce lobbying from opposite sides by civil rights groups, who have been pushing for years for added protections against hate crimes, and social conservatives, who say the bill threatens the right to express moral opposition to homosexuality and singles out groups of citizens for special protection.
The White House said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill and there was "no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement."
It also noted that the bill leaves other classes, such as the elderly, the military and police officers, without similar special status.
"Our criminal justice system has been built on the ideal of equal justice for all," said Representative Lamar Smith, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "Under this bill justice will no longer be equal, but depend on the race, sex, sexual orientation, disability or status of the victim."
Republicans, in a parliamentary move that would have effectively killed the bill, tried to add seniors and the military to those qualifying for hate crimes protection. It was defeated on a mainly party-line vote.
The House bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal authorities greater room to participate in hate crime investigations.
Federal investigators could step in if local authorities were unwilling or unable to act.
The Human Rights Campaign said federal intervention could have made a difference in the case of Brandon Teena, the young transsexual who was raped after two friends discovered that he was biologically female and then murdered after local police did not arrest those responsible.
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