On October 28, 2009 President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to apply to crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, and dropped the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally protected activity.

Alaska Hate Crimes Law

Alaska currently does not address hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

What We Are Doing

We are continuing to work with state lawmakers to address the need for hate crimes prevention legislation in our state.