President Obama will sign the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act into law, making it a federal offense to perpetrate violent acts based on bias against a group of people, including gays.

The act is named for Matthew Shepard, a young gay Wyoming man who was kidnapped, beaten, and left tied to a fence post in 1998, and James Byrd Jr., a African-American man who was dragged for three miles behind a pick-up truck in Texas the same year. Both men died from their injuries.

More details about the law can be found here.