The Article Title Sounds Like a Nasty Anti-Gay Joke...

The Article Title Sounds Like a Nasty Anti-Gay Joke...

or perhaps the sort of hypothetical that a law professor might come up with the force his students to think. But it comes from the October 8, 2009 Daily Mail:

One gay man, two lesbians, a three-legged cat and a poisoned curry plot

A gay man tried to poison his lesbian neighbours by putting slug pellets into their curry after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat.

Gary Stewart, 37, had been at loggerheads with Marie Walton and Beverley Sales for months.

But things looked brighter when he made a peace offering of some curry, claiming he had ordered too much from the Indian takeaway.

When the women started to eat, they found the curry studded with slug pellets.

They called the police and Stewart was arrested.

He appeared before magistrates in Manchester where he admitted attempting to poison the two women on September 22.

He denied a further charge of making threats to kill.

Last night it emerged that Miss Walton, a full-time mother, and Miss Sales, a goods vehicle driver, had been the victims of an apparent hate campaign by Stewart at their home in Denton, Manchester.

As Red Ink: Texas points out:

But apparently in the UK, if you happen to be of a protected class, any attempt on your life, regardless of the reason counts as a hate crime. Let this be a warning to Congress. They are about to pass a defense bill that has had a gay hate crime amendment stuck in it.

I can't find any evidence in the article that Stewart is being charged with a hate crime. But here's the question: if Stewart was closeted--and no one knew he was gay--would he be charged with a hate crime? Would he have to admit his homosexuality to clear himself from a hate crime charge?