What most people don’t know is that returning military members were included in this bill also. Apparently some violent Americans have targeted them for doing their job.  This subgroup of people needed extra protection also and I have not heard of one conservative group wanting to take these protections back. Nor should they.  The breakdown of hate crimes according to the FBI says more than half of reported hate crimes are motivated by racial bias.  Next most frequent are crimes based on religious bias, at around 18 percent, and sexual orientation, at 16 percent.
To Dee: You over exaggerate the gay populations political clout to censure the bible.  It won’t happen.  However the bible has done a beautiful and competent job for 2000 years of censuring the gay population.  Churchgoers who think that they are the new victims in society have an incredibly healthy imagination.

This law will probably not stick.  Gays are accustomed to being thrown around like a political football.  We are the step-children no one wants to claim.  We don’t need hate-crime legislation.  We need protections from the Congress of the United States of American.  Other western countries don’t understand our misgivings about gay people.  They have conservatives, but they don’t have Republicans.  I can see their confusion.

It is funny to listen to the arguments of those who are clearly opposed to this legislation.  This is not about legislating thinking.  Most idiots who commit hate crimes have a nasty little habit of yelling slurs against the person that they are beating.  So, I’m guessing that with witnesses,cameras and victim testimony most of these crimes will be quickly figured out to be hate crimes.  Some of these idiots even have a criminal history with some common threads to draw upon to support the victims accusations.  I personally don’t see the problem in jailing large numbers of preachers for lifelong slander against minorities.  We want to do it to Islamic imams, so why not here also.  They are the ones who have directly affected large numbers of haters across the globe to participate in violence.  They are the ones offering immortality.  It is hard for police departments to compete with promises of virgins and wings.  They are the ones who have convinced educated lawmakers to deny gays their inalienable rights and inherent worth and push them to the side like an unwanted minority from Iraq.

The very words “Hate Crime’ appear to infringe on our freedom. How do you
measure hate? I still have yet to see the actual numbers of people killed for being
gay compared to women killed by domestic violence. I’m sick of homosexuals
getting special treatment while they destroy anyone who disagrees with them.

Perhaps I can cry “Hate Crime” when homosexuals try to censor the Bible? Oh yea,
it’s already against the law in Canada to read a specific chapter of Romans over
the airwaves. When I think of the people who have lost high profile jobs because
they are labeled ‘homophobic,’ I tend to think that we are going in the wrong
direction. The apologizing and the simpering is ridiculous!

Stupid politicians pandering to a bunch of deviants.  Any idiot can figure that if you kill someone you must also hate them so why the federal offense.  Now every fight that starts and in the heat of it if someone is called a fag or doughnut bumper it will be a Federal offense.  This is Congress being lame at its best.  This will probably increase the violence.

Chaotic Good- I see that you express what many on the far left have as the bill was written.  This bill was written in a way that can in fact infringe on free speech based on morality.  What I mean is that this is the beginning of the ability of government to take away the ability of not only preachers but also parents to instill a morality based on biblical and religious beliefs.  Please not that I included religious beliefs and should include cultural beliefs.

The primary reason this bill was passed because those with an agenda slipped it into a defense bill geared at giving our troops what they needed forcing approval, rather than allowing public discussion and understanding of the bill and its implications in the light of day.