Last week our community was let down yet again when Democratic leaders in Congress dropped the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act from the defense authorization bill that had passed the Senate.

Had the hate crimes measure remained in the defense bill, those leaders said, the legislation would have failed in the House. Senate Democratic leaders, in contrast, had attached the hate crimes act to the defense bill thinking that if it reached the president’s desk in that form, Bush wouldn’t veto it.

Regardless, the change of fortunes for the hate crimes act, which passed both the House and Senate by comfortable majorities, is another federal legislative setback for the GLBT community. Compounding the disappointment, it came just weeks after House leaders rewrote the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to leave out transgenders and strip the measure of its power to protect large numbers of gay and lesbian employees.

Simply put, it’s been a bad couple of months for GLBTs in Congress.

That’s disappointing because we had high hopes early this year when Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. Wasn’t that supposed to mean that our issues—ENDA, the hate crimes act, permanent partners immigration reform, revisiting the military ban—would get serious attention on Capitol Hill?

Instead of action, though, we’ve gotten what Dennis and Judy Shepard called the “triumph of process over principle” and promises that we’ll get more results if we just “wait until next year” or 2009, after the 2008 elections.

Congressional leaders, even some leaders within our own community, have gone so far as to blame us for the lack of success in Congress, as if we’re the ones who cast votes on bills on the House and Senate floors. It’s our fault, they say, for not “educating” members of Congress well enough. We need to do more, they say; that is, spend more money on Washington lobbyists.

Come on—is this really our fault? The truth is that in 2007 no one can claim a lack of knowledge about the fact that treating gay or transgender employees differently than straight employees amounts to discrimination. Thousands of employers, including most of the Fortune 500, recognize that truth. State legislatures and city councils across the country have been sufficiently “educated” about the issue to pass state and local versions of ENDA that protect millions of GLBTs.

Similarly, no one can claim that there’s a shortage of knowledge about how wrong anti-GLBT hate crimes are. Police officials across the U.S. support hate crimes measures. Likewise, state and local lawmakers all over the country have dealt with the issue, the same as they do for other crime issues.

The bigger problem, it seems, is a political culture in Washington that’s more about partisan gamesmanship than anything else. No matter which party is in power, the primary goal of congressional leaders is to maintain and extend their power. Legislative proposals, no matter how noble or practical, are just chips in that struggle for power.

Now that’s something to think about as each of us considers how to vote in the 2008 elections. No, you likely won’t get to vote for a slate of candidates who’ll get elected and bring dramatic change to Washington. But it is up to each of us as voters to press candidates on whether or not they’ll base their actions and votes on the merits of bills or on the dictates of their party’s leaders.

Change has to start somewhere. Our guess is that somewhere won’t ever be in Washington. That means it has to be here with you, the voters. Keep that in mind the next time anybody asks for your support.