Mapping hate crimes
Earlier today NPR posted an interactive online map that shows which US states have what types of hate crimes laws on their books. Some interesting findings:
- 44 states have hate crimes laws that protect against violence targeted toward race, ethnicity and religion.
- 29 states have hate crimes laws that protect against violence targeted toward sexual orientation.
- 11 states extend hate crime laws that protect against violence targeted toward gender identity.
So, I have to wonder — how many clergy in these states have been prosecuted for their speech in the pulpit? Seriously, I’d like to know. Because if we were to take the religious right at their word that hate crimes laws will lead to the silencing of clergy, such prosecutions would already be well under way in large swaths of the country. For more on what hate crimes laws really do and don’t do, see here, here and here.