On Wednesday, President Barack Obama signed a law that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.

Hailed by supporters as the first major federal gay rights legislation, the expanded federal hate crimes law was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill that Obama signed at a packed White House ceremony.

The hate crimes measure was named for Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas the same year.

Among those at the ceremony were Shepard’s mother, Judy, Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Attorney General Eric Holder, and leading members of Congress and the Pentagon, who were on hand for the appropriations bill signing.

According to Obama, the new law will “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray.”

(article source: CNN, photo source: The Austin Chronicle)