NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty years after Matthew Shepard's death , the federal hate crimes law bearing his name is viewed with mixed feelings by LGBT and anti-violence organizations that lobbied over nearly a decade for its passage.

President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law on Oct. 28, 2009, just over 11 years after Shepard — a gay 21-year-old college student — died from injuries suffered in a brutal beating by two Wyoming men .

The act expanded the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation, gen...