Just a quick note about this, because Sural asked. It’s interesting to see Dobson’s quote at the bottom of this article:

But Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative lobbying group, told listeners to his radio program that the bill’s real purpose was “to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality,” according to The Associated Press.

It’s interesting how Dobson wants to protect the right of folks to criminally attack people just because they’re a different sexual orientation. Nothing in this legislation is going to stop him from going on the radio and equating homosexuals with pure evil. Hopefully, it will stop more Matthew Shepards from getting killed.

I do have to say that I’m not generally in favor of legislation like this. I believe that simply ratcheting up penalties doesn’t make crimes less likely to happen. The preventative effects are relatively low, as people still do drugs and kill people. So faras the penalties aren’t completely out of whack with the crime, I guess it’s OK to increase penalties.

Regardless, I just found Dobson’s comments silly.