Well, obviously they should be charged with theft. They should also get in trouble with the university, and if they don't, I can see suing the *university* for discrimination (like, they don't care that these guys stole our flag cuz we're gay). I think, however, that charging them with a hate crime *is* a bit much. Clearly they did it as an anti-queer thing, but I think that calling it a hate crime minimizes crimes that are actually threatening. I mean, it's destruction of property. Calling it free speech, however, is silly. They didn't hold a demonstration, they took someone's stuff and destroyed it. They also didn't threaten anyone, though. It's vandalism, not free speech, not a hate crime.
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Date: 2002-05-07 08:44 am (UTC)