Why We Need Federal Hate Crimes Legislation To Include Sexual Orientation

Because of cases like this.

A man brutally beaten in New York City was targeted because he is openly gay, the New York Police Department said Monday.

Two men shouting "anti-gay remarks" viciously beat Jack Price, 49, as he left a 24-hour deli on College Point Boulevard in Queens early Friday morning, police said. No further details where available about the attack.

Price is being treated at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens, where "he is in fair condition and his vital signs are stable," said hospital spokeswoman Camela Morrissey.

Police arrested Daniel Aleman, 26, and charged him with assault and aggravated assault as a hate crime.

"When someone is attacked for being who they are, and for being proud of who they are, there is no other explanation for that attack than hatred and bigotry," said New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay speaker of the city council.

At some point you do have to decide to do the right thing. The House has done this, and the Senate needs to follow suit and get a bill to the President's desk.

Yes, New York is operating under state laws right now that go above the current federal ones. That shoudn't be the case. The bottom line after all the obfuscation about states' rights and the expansion of federal government and freedom of expression is that there are states out there that do not want to make assaults like this based on a person's sexual orientation a hate crime, and their congressional delegations certainly don't want it to count as a federal offense either because they don't see attacking someone based on who they love as a crime to begin with.

At some point at the federal level, this needs to be corrected. The legislation is on its way, thankfully.

[UPDATE 8:52 AM] Because after all, we still have a pernicious and overt racism problem in this country and we certainly as hell have an even worse homophobia problem in this country as well.