By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

In a historic vote for GLBTs, the U.S. Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Act Sept. 27, aiming to give federal hate crimes status to crimes motivated by bias against GLBTs.

“The Matthew Shepard Act is an essential step to erasing hate in America and we are humbled that it bears our son’s name,” Judy and Dennis Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s parents, said in a statement.

Matthew Shepard was a gay college freshman in Laramie, Wyoming when he was brutally beaten and left to die in a field in 1998. He remained in a coma for five days before passing away.

The act was passed as a stand-alone piece of legislation in the U.S. House earlier this year. In the Senate last week it was attached to a bill authorizing funds for the Iraq War, despite protests from anti-gay senators.

“I think it’s shameful we’re changing the subject to take care of special interest legislation at a time like this,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Supporters praised the Senate’s actions despite being aware that President George W. Bush is almost guaranteed to veto it. Bush steadfastly opposed hate crimes legislation as governor of Texas and has promised before to veto a federal hate crimes bill that covers crimes motivated by bias against GLBTs.

“We are deeply disappointed by President Bush’s past statements that he would veto hate crimes legislation,” said Matt Foreman, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “Until today, sadly, little progress has been made in the 17 years since Congress passed the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, because right-wing forces would rather see hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ignored than have the words ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’ appear alongside other protected classes in federal law.”

Like Shepard’s parents, Foreman and others also praised Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), who’ve pushed for passage of the bill for years.

“We also want to recognize those courageous senators who stood in support of this vital legislation despite immense political pressure from anti-gay forces,” Foreman added. Nine Republicans were among the senators who supported adding the hate crimes bill to the funding authorization.

It’s not clear when Bush might act on the measure.