Some people oppose protection of gays and lesbians in civil rights legislation and refuse to join tolerance coalitions if gays are included. Like other victims of hate crimes, gays and lesbians are the target of jokes, harassment and physical harm because of who they are. Demonizing them, as a handful of vocal, conservative church leaders do, creates a field of bias in which more harmful attacks are inevitable. Hate crime laws Hotly contested and flawed by reporting inaccuracies, hate crime laws serve an important purpose. They alert us to tension and hatred between groups of people.
Hate crimes threaten a community's health.
They can trigger civil unrest and raise tensions between groups or between victims and authorities. Because of the great danger they pose, hate crimes warrant aggravated penalties. Hate victims are not asking for special rights, only for the freedom to live daily lives without fear. Women as hate victims More than 500,000 women are raped each year in America. Many others suffer intimidation, injury and death at the hands of men.