re: #213 freetoken

But what if the crime is not geographically specific?

Downstairs I posted a link to a news article on some research about crimes against homosexuals. This is an example where geography was not as important as outward signs of sexual orientation.

Right, which is one reason why the legislation specifies attacks on the basis of perceived orientation as well.

In the final analysis this isn’t a bill about giving special protections to gay people—-because a person doesn’t even have to be gay in order to be the victim of a hate crime targeting gay people. All that matters is that you were targeted based on the attacker(s)’s mistaken belief that you were gay, and the attacker(s) desired to hurt someone for the ‘crime’ of being gay.