Hmmm… interesting. My brother sent me another heated email today (as he likes to do from time to time, and I love him for it) about the new Hate Crimes law definition that is on the Senate agenda. This new legislative plan would protect all 547 forms of sexual deviancy (as listed by the American Psychiatric Association), including pedophilia, exhibitionism, and any other ‘sexually oriented’ state.

When you get down to brass tacks it basically means that if a man ‘exhibits’ for you in the restroom and you physically react (perhaps a lady hitting him with her purse), he has officially committed a misdemeanor and she has committed a federal felony. A mother who finds out her daughter has been raped commits a felony by assaulting the man who did it.

Is this right? Should pedophiles and other “sexual deviants” be a protected class as homosexuals, bi-sexuals, and transsexuals/genders are? I don’t know.

My gut tells me that it’s not our place or our right as citizens to punish a pedophile ourselves, or to assault an exhibitionist. Yes, what they are doing is illegal, but does that make it okay to hurt them? The exhibitionist is committing a misdemeanor, yes, but you can walk away from that and report him. If he assaults you or makes you do something you don’t want, then that’s assault/rape and you’re suddenly dealing with a different situation, legally. You hit him back then and it’s self-defense.

I think the ‘Pedophile Protection Act’ is trying to protect these classes from physical harm, and I think that’s okay. A sex offender must register if he lives in your area and you are armed with the information. What about a registered sex offender who is trying to rehabilitate and change his life? What happens when he is assaulted and put in the hospital because of his history? Despite what people think of him/her, I think it should be a protected case because he was targeted specifically for his ‘deviant sexual orientation,’ and that’s the entire basis of what a ‘Hate Crime’ is. The court system will dole out the appropriate punishments for these people – I don’t think they should be allowed to be targeted any more than I think I should be allowed to be targeted.

I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m gay and I know this is not something I can change, so maybe I feel some sort of sympathy or something. I don’t know. What if I was oriented just as strongly towards children? Would I feel like an evil person? Or would I feel like it was something I was born with? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I don’t think it’s right to allow the public targeting of any class of citizen that is clearly a target of physical abuse. And I’m talking about classes here, not murderers or rapists. A pedophile or exhibitionist may commit rape, murder, etc. but it doesn’t mean that they will because of anything that they inherently are. At least I don’t believe that. “Pedophile” means a lot of things to me, but it doesn’t mean murderer or rapist. Not too long ago a lot of people thought that homosexuals were degenerates, murderers, rapists, etc. (and too many people still do!) and these things are all mutually exclusive.

So, okay, now you say “Well isn’t it better to beat the shit out of the neighborhood pervert before he rapes your daughter?” and that’s getting into the Bush Doctrine and it’s a whole other conversation.

Just some random thoughts that went through my head when I got this email. Thinking out loud, really. Maybe I’m not sure what I think about all of this. But it doesn’t hurt to have a conversation.

Cheers! -Eric