By Matt Simonette

Staff Writer

In the East Room of the White House today, President Obama signed into law a measure signaling a major civil rights change—it is now a federal hate crime to assault a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In order to make passage of The Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act more likely, it was attached to a $680 billion defense bill that was passed by both the House and the Senate in October. Obama has long said that he supported hate crimes legislation for GLBTs and had been expected to sign.

Going forward, Obama promised, people will be protected from violence based on "what they look like, who they love, how they pray or why they are," according to AP.

The civil rights protections had long been a priority for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). The President today paid tribute both to Kennedy family members and Shepard’s mother, Judy, at the signing.

“This law honors our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short because of hate,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese in a statement. “Today’s signing of the first major piece of civil rights legislation to protect LGBT Americans represents a historic milestone in the inevitable march towards equality. … After more than a decade of advocacy, local police and sheriffs’ departments now have the full resources of the Justice Department available to them.”

“Every day transgender people live with the reality and the threat of personal violence, simply because of who they are,” said Mara Keisling, exec. dir. of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “…The new law provides for some vital first steps in preventing these terrible crimes as well as addressing them when they occur.”