I don't support the whole idea of hate crime legislation, and this is a good reason why. You can hate a whole class of people without even knowing they exist, I think.

Is this hanging witch a hate crime? Is it a crime against witches, pagans, democrats, Hilary? All of the above?

As a grown woman it doesn't bother me in the least, but as the parent of a pagan child, it horrifies me.

Maybe in a world 60 years ago witches were fictional characters, but today there is a large group of people who claim ownership of that term (many of whom I call friend.)

Hate crime legislation mandates that we class people, but who does this classifying? The government, or the people? And how do we gaurantee that we are all on the same PAGE with just who is in what class?

Halloween decoration or hate crime?