I was walking in an area (very popular tourist area) and I was abruptly approached by 4 guys that were gonna jump me after their nasty sexual orientation slurs (you know them all) and luckily I shoved the biggest one of the bunch into the others and took off after they jammed me into a car side mirror…

That was a HATE CRIME! I should be able to walk freely in this country without being assaulted because of my sexuality or PERCEIVED Sexual Orientation! PERIOD.

Get the shit beat out of you or have a loved one murdered (which has also happened to me) and you come back and tell us how this kind of legislation is NOT needed!

WOW.
No.

Anyone, majority or minority, can have a hate crime committed against them. If someone was murdered simply because they were white or heterosexual, it’s just as much of a hate crime as if they were black and homosexual.
Anyone who says that hate crime legislation is not needed obviously hasn’t been paying attention to the enormous amount of violence being committed against members of the LGBT community, simply because the victim is non-heterosexual. Were the motive not to instill fear and reinforce homophobic tendencies, it would not be a hate crime.

Even as the fight for women’s rights is making strides, protections for lesbians from violence perpetrated against them because of their sexual orientation has been systematically absent in UN meetings around the globe.
Girls passing out ‘anti-gay’ pamphlets obviously shouldn’t be charged with a hate crime, but that isn’t what hate crime bills are about. Using that as an example is ridiculous.

Either we can have it recognized that violence against LGBT individuals because of the SOLE REASON that the individual was non-heterosexual is wrong, or we can continue to suffer with our cries muffled.

It was just a year or so ago that two teenage girls were charged with a hate crime for simply passing out anti-gay flyers.

The only thing hate crimes legislation does is lend credence to the right’s argument that we are seeking not just equal, but special rights.

In my state we don’t have a hate crimes law, but we do have conceal-and-carry handgun permits. Personally, I think that’s a much more effective deterrent than any piece of legislation.

First, motivation has always been a consideration in the legal system. It has a major impact on arrests, prosecutions and sentences. Motivation, of course, is thought. What was the thinking involved in the crime. To say this amounts to criminalizing thought reflects a complete and utter lack of understanding, knowledge or intelligence.

Second, if a crime is perpetrated for no other reason than, for example, the sexual orientation of the victim, it strikes fear into all members of that group. It would be different if it were a random act and the perpetrator, for example, was only after the victims wallet. A hate crime is an act of terror which strikes fear into a whole group of people. It is, indeed, worse than a random crime. Again, to think otherwise shows a lack of understanding, knowledge or intelligence.

I forwarded your article to my Representative in the House.