Congress set to pass gay hate crime bill

WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Congress is poised to expand hate crimes protections for people attacked because of their sexual orientation, advocates say.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act was added as an amendment last week to the defense appropriations bill on a 63-28 Senate vote, virtually ensuring its passage into law after years of failed efforts to convince the Senate to approve it, the Washington publication Politico reported Monday.

The legislation would fill gaps in state laws that don't specifically protect gays and lesbians from hate crimes, and would empower federal prosecutors to try such cases were no local laws exist, supporters say. The Senate measure reportedly mirrors a version earlier passed by the House of Representatives.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conceded there is probably nothing opponents can now do to stop the measure from being enacted.

"Clearly, there are a few more hurdles before the amendment reaches the president's desk, but its prospects for becoming law this year are very good," Allison Herwitt, legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, told Politico.