It boggles the mind.
In November 2002, Aaron Price beat Gregory Love with baseball bat and allegedly narrated the event with comments like "What are you looking at faggot?" and "I hate these Morehouse faggots," Morehouse being the all boys school where the beating took place. I can say that Price beat Love because he never denied it and indeed was recently convicted. However, I must still put "alleged" in front of the rest of it because Price is claiming he felt threatened by Love and the jury acquitted him of a hate crimes charge.
First of all how can you feel threatened by someone in a dorm shower if you have time to leave the showers, go back to your room, return with the bat and attack the guy from behind? Now it should be pointed out that the victim is not gay. Love says he mistook Price for his roommate since he was not wearing his glasses in the shower. Apparently Price felt Love was being more familiar with him that Price felt was appropriate. A simple examination of Love's prescription could easily settle the issue of mistaken identity. Since I have never seen that information mentioned in a news article, I'm guessing that Love's prescription is indeed strong enough that he could make such a mistake. Before my father underwent Lasic surgery he could not tell his own children apart without his glasses. In fact, my father's vision was so bad that even after surgery he still needs glasses. The point of the surgery was to make it so he could at least function without them. Love's claim is not far fetched.
The point here is not whether or not Love is gay. Perhaps the fact that he is not is what induced the jury to acquit Price of the hate crime charge. But whether or not Love is gay is really immaterial to the question. That he was percieved as gay is. Gay men and women live with the fear of this kind of violence every day. You don't have to actually be gay. You just have to appear gay. Like Love. Like the man in San Antonio who was severly beaten because he happened to be holding his wife's purse while she went into a public restroom.
Hate crime legislation is about the movtivation for the crime. Period. It's about terrorizing an entire community with an act of violence. You would think that Americans would be able to grasp that concept now. Apparently not. Or maybe it's just that the jury in Georgia thinks that gays should be beaten from behind with a baseball bat.