The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 was signed into law October 28th by President Obama. The Act extends federal hate crime law to cover attacks based on sexual orientation and is the first significant expansion of federal criminal civil rights laws in more than ten years.
Specifically, the legislation creates a new criminal code provision which makes it a violation of federal law to willfully cause bodily injury to any person, or attempting to cause bodily injury to any person through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive or incendiary device, “because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person,” § 249(a)(2)(A) and the conduct occurs in at least one of a series of defined “circumstances” that have a definitive connection with or effect on interstate or foreign commerce, § 249(a)(2)(B). The Act also provides that the Attorney General may award Magrants to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to help them with extraordinary expenses associated with the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.