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[–]motionlessoracle 50 insightful - 3 fun50 insightful - 2 fun51 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

A "hate crime" is an ordinary crime that is committed with the additional motivation of bigotry. Speaking is generally not a crime. Therefore, speaking cannot be a "hate crime".

The one exception is if you actually do commit a crime while speaking, such as slander, libel, making direct and highly specific threats, etc.

Saying "kill all TERFs" is not a crime, by the way, at least not in the USA. Nor is misgendering somebody. Since they are not crimes, they cannot be "hate crimes". There is no such thing as a "hate crime" exception to the First Amendment in the USA.

My condolences to anyone who is currently living in a country that actually does classify some speech as a "hate crime".

[–]Oof_Too_Humid 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's an excellent observation, and a very clear explanation (from a U.S. perspective.)