By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

Democratic congressional leaders dropped legislation last week that would have expanded federal hate crimes laws to cover attacks against gays and lesbians after House Democrats said a major military spending bill would fail if the hate crimes law wasn’t cut from it.

“We don’t have the votes,” said one House Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity as conference negotiations on the defense bill were ongoing. “We’re about 40 votes short, not four or six.”

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, as the bill is known, was attached in the Senate to a bill to authorize the military’s budget for 2008. The hate crimes bill’s Senate sponsors, led by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), had attached the bill to the defense measure in September in the hope that doing so would dissuade President Bush from vetoing it.

The House, however, passed the hate crimes act as a stand-alone bill and when House and Senate Democratic leaders met in conference to reconcile the measures, House Democratic leaders told Kennedy and Levin that the defense bill would fail unless the Shepard Act was dropped.

Congressional sources said a significant group of House Democrats said they would vote against the defense bill, even if it meant voting against the hate crimes act, to signal their opposition to the Bush administration’s military programs, including continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those votes, coupled with a group of conservative Republican House members who said they would vote against the defense bill because of their opposition to the hate crimes act, would have doomed the entire measure, House Democratic leaders said.

“Democrats have worked exhaustively with advocacy groups and polled members repeatedly, but it is clear that attaching the language to the (Department of Defense) authorization bill would not create a successful outcome in the House,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

Following the move, House and Senate conferees agreed on the defense authorization measure Dec. 6.

Advocates for the hate crimes act reacted with disappointment, with Kennedy and Levin releasing a statement expressing their regret that House leaders didn’t attempt to vote on the defense bill with the hate crimes act attached, even if it would have failed.

“At a time when our ideals are under attack by terrorists in other lands, it is more important than ever to demonstrate that we practice what we preach, and that we are doing all we can to root out the bigotry and prejudice in our own country that leads to similar violence here at home,” the senators said.

Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in turn said they’re urging Senate Democrats to go ahead and pass a stand-alone hate crimes act after the first of the year, even though Bush is certain to veto it. That, they said, would put them in a better position to pass the legislation in 2009 in the hope that a Democrat who’d sign the bill would be in the White House.

Shepard’s parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, criticized Congress for the turn of events.

“At this time of year that fills us all with hope for humankind, we are sad to find that a congressional majority of each house who have already adopted the Matthew Shepard Act cannot yet come together,” the Shepards said.  “Make no mistake; this is a small triumph of process over principle.  We are dedicated to redoubling our efforts next year to achieve our vision of a hate-free America that truly includes everyone.  This has never simply been about Matthew Shepard and our family. This legislation is a gift delayed but never forgotten for all America’s families.”

The hate crimes failure represented the second major disappointment for GLBTs in Congress in recent weeks. Last month, the House passed a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was criticized after House leaders expanded employer exemptions and dropped transgender protections from the measure. That led almost every GLBT group in the country to oppose the bill. Thus far, Kennedy, who’s chief sponsor of the original, trans-inclusive ENDA measure in the Senate, hasn’t acted to schedule Senate action on the House-passed version.