by Cathy Young

About the author: Cathy Young is vice president of the Women’s Freedom Network and author of Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve True Equality.

The fatal beating of 21-year-old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, apparently motivated at least in part by his homosexuality, has renewed the debate over hate crime legislation. The murder prompted calls from gay activists, editorial pages, and public officials, including Attorney General Janet Reno and President Bill Clinton, for passage of the Federal Hate Crimes Protection Act. This bill would allow federal prosecution of crimes motivated by hatred based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability. [The bill did not pass.]

In their book Hate Crimes: Criminal Law and Identity Politics, criminologists James Jacobs and Kimberly Potter argue that ordinary criminal law...