Long overdue, the legislation expands civil rights-era laws by adding violence against people based on sexual orientation, gender, and disability to the list of hate crimes.

Hate-crime laws passed after the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. covered crimes based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

But hate-motivated violence has prompted attacks in recent years against other victims who deserve the same protection. The legislation represents what Obama aptly called a "long-awaited change" to protect people from being targeted because of "who they love ... or who they are."

The law was named for Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student who was beaten to death in 1998 because he was gay, and for James Byrd Jr., a black Texas man dragged to his death by three white men in a racially motivated killing the same year.

Nationwide, there were more than 77,000 hate crimes reported by the FBI between 1998 and 2007. At least 12,000 attacks were motivated by sexual orientation.

Yet it has taken Congress a decade to change the law, partly because of fierce opposition by then-President George W. Bush, who vowed to veto a similar measure. Democrats got the legislation passed - over the objection of many Republicans - by attaching it to a defense-policy bill.

Some critics said the law could be used to stifle free-speech rights and keep conservatives from speaking out against homosexuality or religious beliefs.

But the law clearly is intended to prosecute those who commit violent acts based on their personal bias - not for what they say, regardless of how distasteful. It includes a provision to ensure that a religious leader or any other person can't be prosecuted on the basis of his or her speech, beliefs, or association.

Most states - except Pennsylvania - have hate-crime statutes that already cover sexual orientation. The law signed by Obama makes federal intervention easier if a state drags its feet in prosecuting such cases.

Its passage should reassure gay-rights activists who were concerned that the Obama administration had put their most pressing issues on a back burner.

Expanding the hate-crime law to combat violence against gays is a welcome step.