the Matthew Shepard Act

Ok,

So as a first post on this thing it might be bad, but at the same time its somthing that annoys me. When did murder stop becoming murder?

So Im a white male, if i kill another white male its just murder, but if i kill a white gay male, its a hate crime.

Im confused, can someone tell me when murder stopped being murder

ADDENDUM:

this is not to say what happened to Matthew Sheppard was not horrible, it was an atrocious act that i think everyone can see. But at the same time, when did murder stop being murder?