I applaud President Obama for signing into law making gay hate crimes a Federal Crime. This is indeed a historic moment-you know darn well if McCain would have won I believe he would have blocked this I think many Republicans have ICE in their veins. I live in central Florida and it upset me greatly to hear Matthew Sheppard died due to homophobics who repeatedly stabbed him to death and left him to die. Did you know many municipalities will not even bother with gay hate because of homophobic cops and State Attorney's who basically believe gays deserve to die or get beaten up. That's all I'm going to say in this matter, but a thank you to President Obama for passing this. And may the families who had their children murdered due to gay hate find some form of comfort and peace with the passage of this law that others will be protected. President Obama is truly a VERY GREAT MAN!