What do you think about the 'hate crimes' legislation that has been proposed to protect gays?

This means that if someone commits any kind of crime against a gay/lesbian person, they will not ONLY be charged for that crime, but also for hate crimes, similar to the way someone would be prosecuted if they committed a crime against someone of a certain ethnic background.
I do not think it is right to add extra charges based on the victim's race or sexual preference or anything else. If a gay man and a straight man are both murdered, why should it be that the murderer of the gay man gets life with no parole and the murderer of the straight man only gets 20 to life with the chance for parole? Both men are just as dead, neither is more 'tragic' than the other.
No, that's not what it means.

It means if someone attacks a person -- SOLELY because that person is gay -- then they can be punished more. Hate crimes are a sentence enhancement on an existing crime -- they are not a separate crime.

If the person attacks an individual for some other reason, unrelated to the fact that they are gay or a minority or whatever, they cannot be punished more severely -- the enhancement is only if the REASON for the attack was primarily based on hatred of the entire group.

It makes that group hatred to be a worse mental state -- just like intentional crimes can be punished more severely than reckless or accidental crimes -- because the mental state is one where the attacker wants to attack the ENTIRE GROUP and these victims were the first members of that group the attacker found so far.
That's excally what it means, and we shouldnt pass it, if we do, then wheres homosexual on heterosexual protection? Wheres black on white crime protection iit wont exsit its only used to protect minritys from majoritys, not to protect majoritys from minritys! it cant be passed it shouldnt!
I don't think catagory of people should be shielded by the hate crime laws..if someone assualts then the crime is assualt..no special laws needed
It's just Democrat stuff.

It also means that if a Gay is molesting your child, and you say anything derogatory about gays, you can go to prison for years.

It's just more Democrat Freaky stuff.
Better get used to it.
I take issue when certain segments of the population get special treatment under the law by being louder and more obnoxious than normal people.


Answers:
Punish the ACT, not the motive. It is not possible to know the motive anyway. If I shoot a minority, does that mean I hate minorities, or did I just hate that individual? It could be either and there is no way for you to know.

coragryph is DEAD WRONG about what hate crime laws are. They CLAIM to be about the motive, but the motive IS NEVER known. The ONLY thing that is EVER proven in practice is the group to which the victim belongs.
I agree with coragryph. I just hope that this type of legislature extends to all people who are attacked because race, sexual orientation or religion.
I don't have a problem with it. People need to mind their own business as far as I am concerned.
Yes, it's ridiculous, isn't it? Does it then follow that a guy who beats and kills his heterosexual wife or girlfriend or both is committing a love crime? The good news is that so-called hate crimes are hard to prove - at least in Canada. It's probably easy as pie in the Evil Empire, which seems determined to put absolutely everyone in jail. In Canada, anyway, the police have to find evidence that shows perp knew victim AND had discriminatory beliefs about the group victim represents.
I have no problem with hate crime legislation--especially since it means what Coragryph said. It can't be used just because a crime was committed against a gay. It can only be used because there wouldn't have BEEN a crime unless the person had been gay; because THAT is why the person was victimized.