Opinion: All hate crimes aren’t created equal

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The editorial board thought this would happen.

Congress has dropped its plan to expand the ‘hate crimes’ category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. The Senate had attached the measure to a defense authorization bill; the House didn’t. Now, during negotiations, conference committee members have stripped away the hate crime measure, hoping that will ensure timely passage of the defense package. Too bad, because although the White House issued a veto threat against a similar House measure (which wasn’t attached to the defense bill), it was prepared to back down before the Senate plan.

Some cold comfort: hate crimes fell in California and Los Angeles. (Too bad they went up nationwide.) And maybe no hate crime law is the best hate crime law.