OK, I have to confess. I'm not a fan of this. Not, because I think it's OK to bash homosexuals, because I don't. I think it's disgusting. But, I have to say, that "hate" crimes legislation of all types bothers the hell out of me. I just don't think the reason you hit someone in the face, or drag them behind a pickup, or stomp their head, should matter.
To me, if I kill someone in a robbery, and someone else kills someone in a gay bashing, we're both despicable, and the dead person is just as dead. I don't think Matthew Sheppard should matter less than the teacher robbed and murdered last year in the mall 2 miles from my house, but I don't think he should matter more either.
I believe that the impulse to enact anti-hate crimes legislation came about because in some jurisdictions hate crimes were getting pursued with less vigor than other kinds of crimes. Not all jurisdictions, by any means, but enough that allowing entirely local standards to prevail meant that some crimes based on racial, religious or other forms of hate were not getting investigated.
Sot it's not that Matthew Shepard should matter *less* than the teacher murdered near you last year--but he should matter the same *everywhere in the country*--whether conservative Wyoming or liberal Massachusetts. And that takes a federal law.
What we truly need is a justice system that automatically looks at everyone as a human being, and no more than that; not by their race, creed, or sexual orientation.
Amen, sister!! But we can't have that until society as a whole is able to look at everyone as a human being, not as part of a group...and while we're making strides, that's going to be a long time coming.
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::does the happy dance::
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Hoorah indeed!!
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To me, if I kill someone in a robbery, and someone else kills someone in a gay bashing, we're both despicable, and the dead person is just as dead. I don't think Matthew Sheppard should matter less than the teacher robbed and murdered last year in the mall 2 miles from my house, but I don't think he should matter more either.
Kim
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Sot it's not that Matthew Shepard should matter *less* than the teacher murdered near you last year--but he should matter the same *everywhere in the country*--whether conservative Wyoming or liberal Massachusetts. And that takes a federal law.
Does that make sense?
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Amen, sister!! But we can't have that until society as a whole is able to look at everyone as a human being, not as part of a group...and while we're making strides, that's going to be a long time coming.
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