I know, I know, but…

I’ve taken some “flack” (as minor as it is) to my objections to the Matthew Sheppard Law. I do have reasons for my objections and I’m going to list them here.

My primary objection is that we shouldn’t legislate against what is in someone’s heart. A crime is a crime, murder is murder, torture is torture and they should be punished as such. Adding more penalties on there because of what they feel or what they believe is fascist in my opinion.

We have laws on the books to make murder a crime. We have laws on the books to make torture a crime. I do not think that we need laws to make hatred a crime.

Here’s the rub, your first amendment rights to swing your fist ends at my nose. You may hate me and everything I stand for, you may say that as long as you want to to me, my family, my friends and more. But when you act on that hatred, then there are multiple recourses that can be taken to punish you for that invasion of my rights.

This is why I don’t think the Matthew Sheppard Law should be enacted. It makes what you believe a crime, not what you do. And that starts us down a slippery slope of thoughtcrime.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be killed. I don’t want to be attacked and beaten. But I think there are enough laws out there to already protect me in case of an attack, there doesn’t need to be additional penalties for what you think.

The next objection is that “how do you prove hatred”? That is requiring the jury and the judge and prosecutors to become mind readers. While motive is definitely a factor in crimes, motive alone cannot be used to prove a crime.

Yes, use hatred to prove motive, but it cannot be used in my opinion as additional punishments.

The last objection I have is this; I’m mortified to find out that I need additional protection from crime. A crime is a crime. It isn’t worse because I wear a dress and have a penis, it is still a crime. I’m equal to everyone else out there. There’s no need to put more laws on the books because I’m a minority.

So there you go, my opinion on this. Go ahead and do your worst.

Mini-Biography:  Joy is a transvestite who has been using her stories as a form of therapy. At this point she has no desire to undergo the full transition, but that might change some day. Read more about her story at My Story on this site.