20091776 Club
Obama signs hate-crimes law bearing Shepard and Byrd's names
Eleven years after both men were murdered, federal protections finally cover sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
Matthew Shepard was tortured and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming. James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death behind a truck in Jasper, Texas. Eleven years later, Congress finally passed a law carrying their names. On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, attached as a rider to that year's defense authorization bill. The law expanded the 1968 federal hate-crime statute to cover gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability, and dropped the old requirement that victims prove they were engaged in a federally protected activity…
