Hate or not
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/052009/05182009/4664085/18/09
JAMES MADISON, it seems, was a cockeyed optimist. Writing to Thomas Jefferson on the passage of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, he said, "We have in this country extinguished forever making laws for the human mind"--prosecuting people for their thoughts, in other words.
In late April, the House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which adds "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability" to the already protected classes of race, color, and religion in federal hate-crimes laws. Assault, kill, or harm someone who happens to belong to one of these groups, and you're subject to extra jail time.
