It was designed to enhance Federal enforcement of laws regarding hate crimes, and to specifically make sexual orientation, like race and gender, a protected class.
The bill stated that existing Federal law was inadequate to address violence motivated by race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim.
It called for the revision of Section 246* of title 18 of the United States Code as well as the addition of a subsection outlining the punishment for anyone found guilty of a hate crime.
This statute's sole purpose was the enhance the penalty of crimes that were motivated by prejudice due to race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, etc.
Research is currently being conducted to investigate the effectiveness of hate crime legislation by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.