Hate Crimes Legislation Passes Senate

I honestly didn't expect the hate crimes bill (aka Matthew Shepard Act) to pass. I'm glad I was wrong. The White House is scared of publicly commenting. They know public opinion is growing against them. People may have mixed feeling about gay marriage. The public does not support discrimination.

The White House wasn't commenting on the prospects for a veto of the underlying defense authorization bill. But some Republicans warned that's just what would happen after the Senate voted by voice to accept the hate crimes amendment.

The amendment was put in the defense authorization bill. It will be interesting to see how this affects don't ask, don't tell.

The to show how far Bush's infamous mandate has slipped, several Republicans voted for the bill.

John Warner
Richard Lugar
Susan Collins
Olympia Snowe
George Voinovich
Arlen Specter
Judd Gregg
Norm Coleman
Gordon Smith (co-sponsor)

The final vote for the Matthew Shepard Act was 60-39.

This is a good day for the GLBT movement. I'm glad to see nine Republican Senators do the right thing. Now it's up to Bush.