The Matthew Shepard Act officially the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is an Act of Congress passed on October 22 2009, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28 2009 as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 H.R. 2647 This measure expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability
