“Oklahomans for Equality is absolutely rejoicing,” said the Tulsa-based organization’s president, Toby Jenkins. “It’s the closest we’ve come to this in Oklahoma.”

Oklahoma is one of five states without hate crime statutes that include sexual orientation.

Both Oklahoma senators, Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, joined 26 other Republicans and one Democrat in opposing the measure, which was attached to a must-pass $680 billion defense policy bill.

Just one day earlier, Coburn had appealed to gays and lesbians through the national publication The Advocate to oppose Democratic health-care reforms.

A priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the measure passed Thursday expands current law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The measure is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student who was murdered 11 years ago.

The House passed the defense bill earlier this month.

Many Republicans, normally staunch supporters of defense bills, voted against the bill because of the hate-crimes provision. All the no votes were Republicans except for Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who supported the hate-crimes provision but opposes what he says is the open-ended military commitment in Afghanistan.

“The inclusion of the controversial language of the hate-crimes legislation, which is unrelated to our national defense, is deeply troubling,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Jenkins said the law “moves toward a more civilized society. It makes us feel safer and more secure and says that differences are never a reason to resort to violence.”

Jenkins said the Tulsa Police Department has been “vigilant against crime based on bias” but that the new law would give state law enforcement authorities additional incentive to provide equal protection to gays and lesbians.

Hate crimes law enacted after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 centered on crimes based on race, color, religion or national origin.

The expansion has long been sought by civil rights and gay rights groups. Conservatives have opposed it, arguing that it creates a special class of victims. They also have been concerned that it could silence clergymen or others who are opposed to homosexuality on religious or philosophical grounds.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, hailed the bill as “our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence.”

The FBI says more than half of reported hate crimes are motivated by racial bias. Next most frequent are crimes based on religious bias, at around 18 percent, and sexual orientation, at 16 percent.