WashBlade.com – By Lou Chibbaro Jr
?Historic? outcome in House unlikely to survive a Bush veto
Gay rights advocates hailed last week?s passage of a federal hate crimes bill by the House of Representatives, but even supporters acknowledge they likely do not have the votes needed to overcome a presidential veto, which White House advisers are recommending.
The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate, where it has 43 co-sponsors. Supporters say the Senate could vote on the measure in late spring or summer. Senate supporters recently renamed the bill the Matthew Shepard Act in honor of the gay University of Wyoming student who was slain in a 1998 hate crime.
Several conservative Christian groups quickly denounced the bill?s passage and vowed to step up a campaign to derail it in the Senate.