Quote:
Originally Posted by dksuddeth
anything else is just favoring one portion of society over another, i.e. special protection.
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This is what we're getting snagged on. It's not favouring gays over others. It's fighting crime against people based on sexual orientation. How is that favouring gays? Everyone has a sexual orientation.
This is a penalty in addition to the penalty of the murder.
Why is there a difference between murder and manslaughter? The end result is the same: someone is dead. If everything were so equal, the penalty would be the same. But that's not the case.
Call it "special protection," "favoritism," or whatever you want, but in terms of a just society, this law was passed with the interest of the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of homosexuals across the country. If people are going out of their way to interfere with that with regard to this group specifically, then they should be penalized for it specifically.