GOP Pulls Hate-Crime Provision From Spending Bill

WASHINGTON — Prospects for expanding federal hate crime laws to include sexual orientation, gender and disability dimmed Monday when congressional Republicans stripped the provision from a spending bill.

House-Senate negotiators pulled the hate-crime provision from an appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments less than a week after President Clinton called for passage of such a law, citing the first anniversary of the beating death of Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student from Wyoming.

The provision could be revived in negotiations between the GOP-run Congress and Clinton. A White House spokesman said: “This does not relieve them of the obligation to pass the hate-crimes legislation at the earliest possible date.”

The Senate in July included the measure in its version of the spending bill, but the House measure did not include such a provision. Ultimately, the Senate leadership urged that the hate-crime provision be dropped from the spending bill when negotiators from the two chambers met to reconcile the two pieces of legislation.

“This was one elephant too much for this boa constrictor,” said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

Current law gives prosecutors the right to investigate and prosecute hate crimes motivated by bias against a person’s religion, race, national origin or color.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) led the effort to expand the law to cover hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender and disability. His proposal also would give federal authorities broader authority to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.

Critics, such as the Traditional Values Coalition, said the legislation was unnecessary because such crimes already are prosecuted under existing criminal laws.

Jackie Payne, policy attorney for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, called the conference committee action “irresponsible,” given a recent string of hate crimes.

Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian political organization, accused the GOP leadership of displaying a “callous disregard” for hate-crime victims and their families.

She noted that the committee acted as the FBI, in its new annual crime report, found a 12.5% increase in hate crimes against gays and lesbians.

An aide to Kennedy said that the senator would continue to press for the legislation.

“We must stop acting as if somehow this fundamental issue is just a state and local problem,” Kennedy said Monday. “It’s a national problem and it’s an outrage that Congress has been missing in action for so long.”

Kennedy ticked off on the Senate floor more than a dozen “acts of hatred” that have occurred this year, including the shooting at a Jewish community center and killing of a Filipino American postal worker in Los Angeles, the murder of a gay couple near Redding, the firing of a tear gas canister at a gay pride parade in San Diego and the killing of four women at Yosemite National Park.

Carole Carrington, whose daughter and 15-year-old granddaughter were among the victims in the park murders, testified before Congress earlier this year in support of expanding the definition of hate crimes. She contended that her daughter and granddaughter were killed “simply because they were women.”

Times staff writer Keenan Suares contributed to this story.