it's about time!

but i do thank you mr president. it's a baby step (remove DADT NOW) but it's more than king george EVER did or even THOUGHT ABOUT

After 10-year dispute, expansion of hate crimes law to gays signed

By Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer

When a gay Wyoming college student was slain in 1998, congressional Democrats pledged to broaden the definition of federal hate crimes by the end of that year to include attacks based on sexual orientation.

The effort instead turned into a decade-long proxy war between liberal groups that want to expand gay rights and conservative groups that do not. But Wednesday, President Obama signed the bill and then hosted a White House reception for gay activists and the parents of the slain student, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard.

"After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are," Obama said after the signing...............

Obama Signs Hate Crimes

By Kerry Eleveld
President Barack Obama Wednesday signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as part of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

“After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we’ve passed inclusive hate-crimes legislation that protects people based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are,” Obama said, addressing the crowd. “I promised Judy Shepard when she saw me in the Oval Office that this day would come.”...........

President Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law

Karen Ocamb
President Obama today signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 around noon, Pacific time. The DOD bill includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Just before the signing, President Obama acknowledged the Shepards and the family of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy who made passage of the hate crimes bill a priority.

This national hate crimes bill that includes sexual orientation and gender identity has been a long time coming, starting in 1982 with Kevin Berrill’s antigay violence project at the national Gay Task Force. In 1988, U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, which required the Justice Department (the FBI) to collect and publish data about crimes motivated by hatred based on race, religion, ethnic origin and/or sexual orientation. The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 28 U.S.C. § 534, [1] was signed into law in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush and became the first federal law to recognize and name gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

There were problems, of course. Transgender people were not recognized and as the FBI reports were published, it turned out some states such as Alabama had NO hate crimes based on sexual orientation to report. Work began on expanding the hate crimes law to include transgenders and give the Attorney General the power to “assist” local law enforcement in the investigation, prosecution and enforcement of hate crime laws. ............

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