Should crimes against Gays and Lesbians be prosecuted as hate crimes?

Question

What do you think and why? And please do not bash political parties or Gays. Serious answers only.

Thank you!!

Answer 1

If it was committed because of their sexual orientation, then yes. There have have been many cases of gays being assaulted because of their orientation, and I would definitely say that qualifies as a hate crime. What else could it be? If it was a random act, then no.

Answer 2

No. The crimes should be prosecuted as the crimes they are. If you start prosecuting "hate crimes" for the sake of protecting minorities, you are criminalizing thought. Assault is assault, no matter if it is committed against a person who is gay, black, white, asian or anything else. Here's an example: if a white man beats and kills a black man and utters the "N-word" he will most likely be prosecuted with a hate crime. If a black man beats and kills a white man and utters the term "cracker" or "redneck", it's prosecuted as a non-hate crime. The same can be said about any "minority" group that commits a crime against a "majority" group.
How many blacks, asians, or mexicans have been charged with hate crimes?
I don't think the government has any business prosecuting thoughts, no matter who thinks them, or how perverted the thoughts are.

Answer 3

Crimes against any homosexual where the motive for the attack can be proved to be due to sexual orientation should be charged as a hate crime.

Just as an attack on someone white, because they are white should be as well.

It is wrong to discriminate against anyone white, black, straight, bi or whatever, and violence towards someone based on such prejudice should be subject to additional punishments.

Answer 4

Yes, they should. Those crimes tend to escalate as time goes on. By increasing the seriousness of the smaller crimes, violent crimes can be prevented.