How many?

How many times will the House of Representatives condemn hate crimes ? Until the message finally gets through and legislation protecting gays from anti-gay hate crimes is PASSED by both houses and signed into law .

OP says: "State hate crime laws are bad enough, since they enhance penalties for crimes motivated by bigotry, thereby punishing people for their beliefs."

No, they don't punish people for their beliefs. They punish them for committed crimes MOTIVATED by those hateful beliefs. They can believe whatever the heck they want to, as long as they don't allow those beliefs to spill over into crimes which infringe upon the rights of their fellow citizens.