President Obama today signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law! October 28th 2009

This is a huge victory — and one that would not have been possible without your activism and the activism of millions of others who fought for the passage of this bill.

It’s been a long time coming: 27 years ago, the Task Force founded the groundbreaking anti-violence project, the first national organizing project calling attention to anti-LGBT hate crimes. Just eight years later, we helped secure the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, so that research and data could build the foundation needed for a comprehensive hate crimes prevention law.

And, year after year, with you by our side, we’ve called on our nation’s leaders to finally pass a bill that would help protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from hate-motivated violence. (You can view our hate crimes protections timeline here.)

Today, we finally have a bill that will provide critical federal resources to state and local agencies to equip local officers with the tools they need to prosecute hate crimes and give LGBT people recourse when they are victims of violent attacks.

Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. From speaking out when others were silent, to contacting your representatives time and time again — we couldn’t have done it without you. We are so glad to have you as a partner in the LGBT movement for equality.

Courtesy of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

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