On Wednesday, President Obama signed into federal law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act ensuring that discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity are no longer tolerated on a federal level. Now, the Department of Justice has the legal means to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence directed at members of the LGBT community.

In addition to its legal progress based on sexual orientation, these new laws are the first to legally and federally recognize the protection of transgender individuals.

Equality New Mexico, one of the state’s largest LGBT adovocacy organizations, outlines the details of the newly-passed law:

This act will assist with educating law enforcement about the frequent hate violence against LGBT individuals along with the need to prevent and appropriately address any hate crime. It will help provide federal expertise and resources when needed to overcome a lack of resources or the willful inaction on the part of local and/or state law enforcement. It assists with educating the public that violence against anyone is unacceptable and illegal.

This most recent addition to hate crime legislation passed in the U.S. Senate on October 22 and comes along with $10 million in federal funding to help state law enforcement ensure these new additions are properly ennacted and upheld.

The passage of this law is important to LGBT advocates, as many states have failed to recognize the LGBT constituency within state hate crimes laws.