I was thrilled when I read the Hate Crimes Bill passed the House today but then I was immediately disappointed when I learned the White House issued a veto threat just hours before the bill's passage.

On what grounds?

The White House, in a statement warning of a veto, said state and local criminal laws already cover the new crimes defined under the bill, and there was ''no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.''

On the cusp of victims rights week last month, our attorney general appeared and spoke sympathetically for increased protections and support for victims of rape, physical abuse and homicide but now, it is apparent gay and transgendered Americans are a lower class citizen who don't deserve this type of assistance.

The Judiciary Committee cited FBI figures that there have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, including 7,163 in 1995. It said that racially motivated bias accounted for 55 percent of those incidents, religious bias for 17 percent, sexual orientation bias for 14 percent and ethnicity bias for 14 percent.

Fourteen percent is a lot if you think about it. We cannot rest until there are ZERO hate crimes committed. Ronald Reagan would be ashamed of Bush's veto threat.