It's even more insidious than that. It establishes in law the outrageous concept of "thought crimes:" that government can punish you for what it claims you were thinking when you were doing the deed. It's only a minor leap from that to creating Gulags for anyone accused of having thoughts that deviate from the Official Party Line. Don't tell me that's ridiculous. It's happened in the USSR, China and other Communist countries within most Freepers' lifetimes.
Does someone who commits a "hate" crime against a homosexual hate the victim more than, say, a wife who cuts her husband's penis off? And just who is the government mind-reader who is able to tell what thoughts the perp was thinking at the time of the crime?
We're getting into totalitarian never-never land with this kind of stuff. It's very dangerous and once it's established it'll be like trying to get rid of "emergency" taxes.
Well, we've always looked at what criminals were thinking when they committed their crimes. Intent is an important part of determining the severity of a crime.
We can argue about what criteria we use in determining, and what should or should not be included, but not the process itself. This is no closer to "hate crimes" than stiffer penalties for those who kill cops as opposed to regular citizens.