According to Political Intelligence:
The House [of Representatives yesterday] ... passed an expanded hate crimes bill that would protect gay victims, and its chief sponsor in the Senate [Ted Kennedy] called for prompt final action.
The measure passed 249-175 over the objections of conservatives, the Associated Press reports.
The bill -- named for Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who was beaten to death in Wyoming in 1998 [despite Rep. Virginia Fox's bogus claim that the bill is mis-named because, according to her, Shepard was the victim of a robbery, not a hate crime] -- is a stronger version of a bill that died two years ago under a veto threat from President Bush.
By contrast, President Obama supports it.
