1. I believe that social protest is protected under the 1st amendment and that's how it should be.
2. No. Their specific targeting of the homosexual community draws attention to the issue, but most people are smart enough to consider the source. That is to say that most people can recognize and acknowledge that this is simply a matter of Christian fundamentalists attacking homosexuals. Status quo
3. Hate crime laws are fair and justified. From the standpoint of legal philosophy, different punishments for similar criminal outcomes are generally determined based on the intent of the perpetrator, e.g. manslaughter vs. murder, which I believe was already mentioned. In singling out and committing crimes against a specific group of people, the issue of malicious intent has been introduced, thus warranting a harsher penalty. This is consistent with most all western understandings of crime and punishment. Of course this requires establishing the intent of the perpetrator, which does raise issues of misuse and abuse, but that should not detract from the passage and enforcement of such laws. It simply requires that intent MUST be conclusively shown or the crime cannot fall under hate crime legislation.
