"Killing a gay man should be no less or more a crime than killing a straight man."
I have been very much in accord with you on everything on this thread (just check my posts: I'm starting to sound like a gay activist, for God's sake), but there is a fine point that should be made about your statement above. While I have great reservations about "hate crime" laws, I do also abhor the monsters who murder people simply BECAUSE of their race, ethnicity, "lifestyle," etc. You're black, I'm killing you. You're white, you deserve to die. You're gay, your life has no value.
But, as I said, that's probably a fine point.
You're perfectly within your rights to abhor someone who murders a homosexual more than you abhor someone who theoretically murders my elderly mother (although you'd be a fool) but your personal abhorrance has nothing and should have nothing to do with severity of punishment.
If a person receives a more severe punishment for committing a crime against a homosexual than against my elderly mother, we have indeed entered the world of thought crimes. In such a world, some people (in this case, the hypothetical homosexual victim) is of more value than my elderly mother as a victim.
You may like that world; most of us do not.
I agree with that statement. I guess I just want to fry all the killers, so I have no fine point there! LOL!