US House Passes Inclusive Hate Crimes Bill 237 to 180, President Threatens Veto

The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HR 1592), also called the Federal hate crimes bill, passed the U.S. House today by a vote of 237-180, drawing bipartisan support from the Florida Delegation.

The measure must now pass the US Senate and then be signed by the President. Just hours before the vote, the White House threatened to veto the legislation.

Your voice was head loud and clear! Over 1,000 Equality Florida members responded to our Action Alert and contacted their US Representative through emails and phone calls. Equality Florida staff also helped coordinate visits to key legislators in the final days before the vote.

Because of you, every targeted district in Florida voted in support of this critical legislation. Florida Democrats were joined in their support of the bill by Republicans Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The far right had targeted conservative Democrats and Republicans in Florida with desperate and dishonest claims that the bill infringed on their religiously based anti-gay speech.

Below is the list of how members of the Florida Delegation voted:

Yeas:
Boyd
Brown
Castor
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Hastings
Klein
Mahoney
Meek
Ros-Lehtinen
Wasserman-Schultz
Wexler

Nays:
Bilirakis
Brown-Waite
Buchanan
Crenshaw
Feeney
Keller
Mack
Mica
Miller
Putnam
Stearns
Weldon
Young