Is Eating at IHOP a "Special Right?"

Seattle Gay News - hate crime again on Capitol Hill (No, not that Capital Hill. The one in Seattle.) Everybody tells me how gays are after all these special rights, so I wondered if eating at IHOP was included in those.

"It was about 2:30 in the morning," Lewis told SGN. "I walked out of the IHOP to call a cab. I noticed a guy walking behind me, and he said 'fucking faggot' as I was walking out toward the street."

"I thought the best thing to do was just to get a cab and leave," Lewis continued. "I looked down to dial my phone, and the next thing I knew he was on top of me."

A total of three straight young men beat Mr. Lewis until he was unconscious. He woke up in the CAT Scan machine at a local hospital about 45 minutes later.

Now Washington State has a wonderful version of the Castle Doctrine - the Stand Your Ground version. So a little self-defense might have gone a long way in this scenario. But what about the hate? Should we do anything about that? I'm not sure I like hate crime laws, but I know how we got here. For generations - right up until today - police have not always protected every community equally. Sometimes police have been part of the problem. So what do we do?

BTW, if you are offended by ads featuring young men in clingy underwear, as opposed to the young women in clingy underwear you see everywhere, you may not want to click that link.