It's not often that you see Republicans using gay rights as the positive foundation for a campaign commercial, but Oregonian Senator Gordon Smith is not your regular Republican.

The politico this weekend released an advert highlighting his support for gay-inclusive federal hate crime laws, measures Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy also supported.

Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered a decade ago, an event Smith's commercial invokes, praised the ad, saying: "I support Gordon. He’s been with us on everything except the gay marriage vote. He has shown tremendous leadership and compassion for all of our legislation. To lose that would be terrible."

Gay group Basic Rights Oregon, which has previously endorsed Smith, came out against the ad, and specifically took on the Senator's opposition to gay marriage. "…Gordon Smith was a poster child for 2004’s Measure 36, a (state) constitutional amendment that made gay Oregonians second-class citizens under the law by denying committed couples the security and dignity of marriage," said Basic Rights' executive director, Jeana Frazzini.

The Log Cabin Republicans are backing Smith's reelection.

Oregonian Republican Gordon Smith led a good gay fight on Capital Hill yesterday. The Senator and a host of other politicos, including Tammy Baldwin and Joe Lieberman, introduced a bill which will secure domestic partner benefits for federal employees.

Oregon U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith has unveiled a bill that would extend domestic partner benefits to federal employees.

Smith, in co-introducing the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act of 2007 with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and 18 other co-sponsors, said the measure would help the federal government compete for higher-echelon workers.

"The federal government should be leading the way rather than following when it comes to providing benefits," said Smith, a Republican. "Rights and benefits must be afforded to all employees equally. This bill corrects the current inequity."

HRC's Joe Solmonese celebrated the news, of course: "[This bill] is not only a matter of equal pay for equal work, but also the best way to insure that the government has access to the top talent…"

Senator John Kerry proved himself useful last week. The Democrat joined forces with Oregonian Republican Gordon Smith to introduce legislation easing America's restrictions on HIV positive travelers. Those restrictions include nearly blanket bans on infected foreigners.

Kerry and Smith released a joint statement, saying:

The United States has one of the harshest restrictions in the world on HIV-positive immigrants.
…
It’s incredible that the federal government still tolerates a ban that not only restricts AIDS experts with the disease but also refugees who are seeking asylum in our country. My legislation will end this draconian law. The attempts to fix this law through a complex waiver system, while admirable, still don’t do anything to rectify the discriminatory underlying problem. That is why I have introduced this legislation to permanently strike this unfair provision from the books.

Kerry and Smith's plan would give broader power to the Department of Health and Human Services, which originally managed such matters. Congress took control in 1993 with the Immigration and Nationality Act.

So it's really not that monumental, but it's better than nothing.

The Senatorial Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (aka S. 1105) may get a vote as early as today after Senators Ted Kennedy and Gordon Smith filed the act as an amendment to the Department of defense reauthorization bill.

The move comes just hours after those Gravel-dissers HRC released a letter signed by 1300 religious leaders urging the Senate to follow in the House of Representatives' footsteps.

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