"Special" Rights and Hate Crimes Legislation

[BOSSHOG]

Conservatives constantly whine about how homosexuals want "special" rights and that there is no reason to define some crimes as being driven by hate; in other words laws should not be written for certain citizens. Teri Schiavo's parents?? I'm sure some learned neocon is mulling this conundrum over as I type. I guess we can all stand by as conservatives will soon be marching for Aids Research and Universal Health Care.

[tubbacheez]

1. Of course, if any opponents ever took the time to actually READ the law...

... they'd see zero conflict with the equal protection clause.




No minority groups are listed in any "hate crime" laws. If any group received special treatment, it would have to be identified by name, yes?

But no groups are named.

You won't find the word "homosexual" mentioned in the statute. Nor the word "Black", nor the word "Muslim", nor the word "Albanian", nor any identifier for any group.



The only thing the laws infringe upon is the historical custom of looking the other way when various asshats oppressed people based on certain criteria.

[Touchdown]

2. Their hypocricy on HC laws is glaring

Every single hate crimes statute in this country protects "Religious beliefs" and in most instances "Religious expression". Very few hate crimes laws have sexual orientation listed among protected groups. Imagine if religious belief was excised from all HC laws. They would scream "religious bigotry" from the rafters until they get hoarse.

Who's REALLY got special rights here?