My mention of Russell Fiengold was not to demonize him by the way. He is and has been an avid supporter of gay rights. He is one of the Democrats I do admire for taking stances on principle. One of the few to be found.
Oh, come on. 5 out of 40 vote for it while 1 out of 60 vote against and your reply is “see, both parties support gay rights”? I’m not even suggesting that the act was a particularly good (I’m not strongly supportive of hate crimes legislation in general). But the notion that the parties are anywhere even close to the same on this issue is ludicrous, in my opinion.
In what sense is an amendment to a defense appropriations bill not voted on by the Senate? It was indeed voted on, and required 60 votes for cloture, both as an amendment and on the final bill (and once more after conference, IIRC).
Stop and read my words.
Neither party as a whole has shown to be supportive of gay rights. Both parties have members who when given the opportunity to vote against gay rights will. Democrat does not equal pro-gay despite what some Democrats may tell you.
I’m going from memory here so anyone can correct me if I’m wrong. The House passed a defense appropriations bill that went on to the senate. That bill included the Mathew Sheperd Act. The senate did not vote on the inclusion of that amendment. They voted on the the appropriations bill as a whole.
The original Mathew Sheperd Act first was introduced in the House was passed. It was sent to the senate never voted on there.
From Wikipedia: