Sheesh. People make the most contrived arguments to defend bigotry...
Hate crimes isn't about conferring special protection, its about ensuring that the perpetrators of crimes of truly malicious intent are punished accordingly.
We make a distinction between premeditated murder, self defense, and accidental killing, and so forth even though all of these are effectively the 'same thing' (i.e. the different degrees of murder, justifiable homicide, and manslaughter). Why? Because the intent is vastly different in each case, and we punish crimes with serious intent to harm or harass more severely because they are of a different nature that we especially wish to prevent.
And sadly, even the law enforcement is not immune to bias and bigotry. Perhaps if everyone was truly equal in the eyes of the law, then there would be no need. In reality, the police and investigators are ordinary people as well, and subject to the same feelings that may have caused the crime in the first place. So long as these conditions exist, hate crimes provisions are essential.
Really, if people truly want to fight hatred and hate crimes, then treating them especially seriously is the just thing to do.
