WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday approved an expansion of federal hate crimes law to include protections for gay men and lesbians, defying a presidential veto threat by attaching the measure to a high-priority defense bill.

Republicans said they would try to remove the provision in final negotiations with the House, but if that effort fails, GOP leaders urged President Bush to follow through with his long-standing veto threat. They were furious earlier this week when Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced he would force a vote on an expanded hate crimes statute, with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, calling Reid’s maneuver a “shameful” attempt to “hijack” essential defense legislation.

Democrats argued that the amendment addresses terror of a different form. “The defense authorization is about dealing with the challenges of terrorism overseas,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. “This is about terrorism in our neighborhood.”

During a test tally that preceded the final vote, nine Republicans were among the 60 senators who voted to support the amendment: GOP co-sponsor Gordon Smith of Oregon, Sens. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Warner of Virginia and George Voinovich of Ohio.

The amendment was written in honor of Matthew Shepherd, a young gay man who was beaten and left to die on a fence near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. The proposal has passed the House or Senate several times over the years, but has never cleared the entire Congress.

When Democrats won control of both chambers in November, advocates saw their best opportunity yet for strengthening a federal law that has existed since 1968 and focused on race, color, religion and national origin.

The Senate amendment was approved by voice vote, after Democrats broke a GOP filibuster by securing exactly the 60 votes needed, with 39 Republicans voting to block the measure from moving forward. An identical House bill passed 237-180 in May with 25 Republicans supporting the measure and 14 Democrats opposing it.

“For over a decade our community has worked tirelessly to ensure protections to combat violence motivated by hate, and today we are the closest we have ever been to seeing that become a reality,” said Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group. “The new leadership in Congress fully understands that for too long our community has been terrorized by hate violence.”

Under the Senate amendment, the definition of a hate crime would expand to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.