By Jinae West
Almost a year after President Barack Obama was elected into office, he signed into law a bill that would extend federal hate crimes to include sexual orientation. Among those who attended the October signing were Dennis and Judy Shepard, the parents of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was murdered in 1998 in Wyoming.
The bill comes at a time when people may reflect on what has transpired in the past year — how far the country has come and how very far it has yet to go.
Kim Welter, director of programs and outreach at Equality Ohio, says the federal law does
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