Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (Matthew Shepard Act)

Obama gave most of the credit to individual activists who fought for their rights.

Prosecutors have never used the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to bring charges against someone for targeting a victim for being transgender.

Prosecutor says he can’t file anything tougher than misdemeanor assault charges because Utah’s hate crimes law doesn’t include LGBT protections.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence is a darling of the religious right, and with good reason.

On this 15th anniversary of the murder of Matthew Shepard, filmmaker Michele Josue — a high school classmate and close friend of Matthew’s — brings to the screen the story of the life, death, and lasting legacy of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man with aspirations to one day change the world.

LONDON, Ky. — Four people from eastern Kentucky have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in the kidnapping and attack of a gay man.

DALLAS — A member of the Aryan Brotherhood will serve an extended prison sentence after admitting he committed a federal hate crime by severely beating another inmate he believed to be gay.

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in the case of two men charged in a federal hate crimes case Wednesday, the first in the nation under a section of the federal hate crimes law that makes it illegal to attack someone based on the victim’s real or perceived sexual orientation.

LONDON, Ky. — The federal trial of two men charged in an anti-gay hate crime in Harlan County, Ky., got underway in U.S. District Court Wednesday, the first federal application of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act for charges relating to the victim’s sexual orientation.

DETROIT — A Michigan man pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges on Wednesday, admitting that he assaulted a victim because he believed the man was gay, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.