Why I don't care about the "Hate Crimes" law, by matt

Anyone who assaults someone else can be arrested and tried for assault. the law already makes stomping on a homo illegal because stomping on anyone is illegal. so i basically find it redundant and unnecessary. i don't see it as punishing "thought" because it does cover actual assaults, but being convicted and serving time for stomping on (or killing) a straight guy and stomping on(or killing)a gay guy should both carry the same penalty.

I think this is just a fig leaf offered to gays to say "hey, look, we're doing something for you guys" but in the end assault of any kind still results in arrest and being tried and convicted if guilty so what does it really do for us? I think it's a distraction from more important issues and more fuel for the anti-gay movement while not actually criminalizing anything that isn't already a crime anyway.

Anderson Cooper talks to an editor of towleroad.com and columnist dan savage about the passage of this law. both support the law (one less emphatically than the other)but they do express a few of my thoughts above as well as the general frustration the pro-gay movement is beginning to feel towards the Obama administration's lack of progress on many of his campaign promises to the gay community: