Attaching such legislation to a defense spending bill is pretty low in my book. There should be a law that each bill and amendment has to stand on its own. If it cannot, it dies like it should. Who sponsored this anti-American amendment?
Its had more than one. Initially it was Teddy Kennedy who authored the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909). This bill - (S. 1390 Fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization bill) in its final passed form contains the actual text of S. 909 which Kennedy authored. This bill was also conferenced in with H.R. 2647 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010).
Though S. 1390 was initially sponsored by Levin (D - MI) it was Patrick Leahy (D - VT) who actually included Kennedy's S. 909 text which is the final amendment which ultimately passed and Obama signed on October 28th.
The text of the bill can be found here
Pay particular attention to Division E of the bill beginning with Section 4701 - Here "DIVISION E--MATTHEW SHEPARD HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT" which is virtually verbatim from Kennedy's S. 909.
S. 1390 Status:
7/2/2009: Introduced
7/2/2009: Referred to Senate Armed Services Committee
7/2/2009: Reported to Senate
7/15/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/16/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/20/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/21/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/22/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/23/2009: Amended by the Senate
7/23/2009: Senate Passage
10/28/2009: Signed by Obama