<p>Consolation, I really hope this thread doesn’t get hijacked and turned into yet another discussion of the merits of hate crimes laws. But please remember that laws increasing punishment for crimes committed with particular states of intent have existed forever (and stand at the center of the criminal law system), and that there have long been not only hate crimes laws but other laws increasing punishment for crimes committed against victims who belong to particular groups (police? children?) that are considered particularly vulnerable to violence, and, therefore, warrant additional protection in the form of laws that (in theory) serve as a deterrent.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most important part of the new federal hate crimes law (in my opinion), given the fact that historically, local authorities have not been exactly stellar in investigating and prosecuting the underlying crimes against members of those groups, is the authority it gives to the federal government to assist local authorities, and, of course, to undertake their own investigations and prosecutions. It’s all fine and good to advocate enforcement of the underlying criminal laws, but, unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen for LGBT victims, and victims who are subjected to violence motivated by other hatreds (race, gender, religion, nationality, etc.).</p>
<p>You appeared to credit factual assertions in the comment section that “there’s more to this.” I’ve heard anonymous assertions like that all too many times to take them lightly, and I know exactly what motivates them. I doubt that you’re as familiar as I am with the comments made to LGBT-related news stories that appear on mass-media websites. I’m not suggesting that you condone what happened; I’m suggesting that nobody in their right mind should believe assertions like that, or even repeat them, frankly. The “this is disgusting” reference was not to you; it was to the crime. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear.</p>
<p>What interested me in a more general way was how it described the behavior of kids, around the ages of our own, when they are being attacked verbally for no reason whatsoever. I certainly think exiting a bar known as gay is “no reason whatsoever.”</p>
<p>I thought of how earlier Civil Rights workers (student age, mostly; black and white) were trained in the Deep South to work on voter registration (summers l962-65, I guess). They understood they were part of a larger movement, so any single incident they were told to de-fuse or not react. Even so, some civil rights workers were killed, for no reason whatsoever; oh actually, for implementing the new federal Voter Registration Act. Guilty of peddling the law, I guess. </p>
<p>Is there confidence among LGBT young people that they have support and need not stand up for themselves, person by person, when taunted by some drunken nobody? Here, taunts turned to shoves, then a knifing of the eye by the provoking gay-bashing girls who first approached that couple. According to the newspaper account, the attacked couple was trying to leave the area, although one came back out of a cab to argue over the spoken words.</p>
<p>I just want people to stay safe so they can keep fighting for justice. I never saw the comments below the News article, but kudos to them for removing them.</p>
<p>I also think the article may be of interest even beyond the gay issues, simply on what to advise kids to do when leaving a bar where it’s rowdy or crowded on the sidewalk/parking lots. This was New Years Eve.</p>
<p>I would hope that my son has the common sense not to get into an argument with people like that when there’s any possibility of physical danger. I’ve certainly advised him not to. In a way, it helps that he’s so little compared to most guys.</p>
<p>Most people I know just don’t care enough about gay people to start a fight with them. I don’t know why you would go fight them outside of gay bars anyway, because if you hate them it’s place where they can go that’s far away from you.</p>
<p>Those who are not confident of their own place in the world are the most threatened when someone else challenges it , in some cases just by breathing in a manner that makes the agressor feel even more unsure.</p>
<p>I don’t think men who hate LGBT are sickened , I think they are turned on. Look how many closeted conservatives have been outed recently.</p>
<p>If they were so disgusted , then why the fixation/fascination?</p>
<p>When something repels me, I don’t usually go out of my way to read about it, put myself in it’s company, or march around while waving a sign.</p>
<p>Physical assaults on gay people is only the most extreme example of a very common attitude, I believe. For example, why is it so hard for gay marriage to be legalized? (There was just a vote against in NJ.) Why is someone being gay such a threat to straight people? I assume, to give the benefit of the doubt, that those who voted against legalizing gay marriage in NJ are not homophobes. There is some kind of deeply seated reaction going on here which defies reason, fairness, logic.</p>
<p>That’s because a lot of people have a really crazy idea about what tolerance means. Tolerance doesn’t mean that you have to approve of or like everyone and everything. Tolerance can just mean that you allow people who disagree with you to exist. That is, you don’t beat them, you don’t torture them, you don’t kill them. You are allowed to disagree with them, argue with them, anything you want, as long as you allow them to exist.</p>