The "Hate Crime" That Wasn't



David Bernstein blogs about a convenient "hate crime" at Claremont-McKenna College, where the new president is trying to drag a relatively middle of the road college (yes, there a few left) to the left:

It seemed an outstanding stroke of luck for the administration when, in the midst of a push for greater "tolerance" and "diversity," a visiting left-wing faculty member's car was vandalized. Windows were smashed, tires slashed, and racist and anti-homosexual slogans spray painted on the professor's car.

Except: two witnesses saw the "victim" doing the vandalism.



This isn't the first time, of course, that an anti-homosexual "hate crime" has turned out to be lies:

MORGAN HILL -- The alleged abduction and sexual assault of a gay man left bound and gagged along Highway 101 in Morgan Hill last week was a hoax, Santa Clara County sheriff's officials said yesterday.



The alleged victim was trying to cover up for a night away from home and his partner, according to investigators. The matter, which was being investigated as a hate crime, is now being forwarded to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office, which will determine whether to file charges against him for filing a false police report.

And this example:

In 2001, a gay student at the College of New Jersey confessed to sending death threats to himself and a gay student group. He was suspended from campus during the investigation and charged with a felony on suspicion of filing false police reports and harassment.

While I can't find it online, there was at least one lesbian pastor in San Francisco in the late 1990s who reported being attacked, vile things written on her face, etc.--and then, as the evidence that she had done it herself mounted, she finally recanted, and left town.



One of the reasons for these false reports is obvious: it provides political advantage to homosexuals to claim that they are the victims of such crimes. Indeed, a "hate crime" against lesbian Regan Wolf was successful in getting South Carolina to pass a "hate crimes" law--and then it turned out that she faked it:

Regan Wolf, a South Carolina woman who told police in 1998 that she had been tied up and whipped because she is a lesbian, has been fined $125 for filing a false report.

There are certainly hate crimes being committed against homosexuals. But how many? As this testimony from a Congressional committee points out, there are economic motivations as well, and there are reasons to suspect that the number charged as false reports is way too low:

One reason the arrest and conviction numbers may be suppressed is that both law enforcement and insurance companies generally are hesitant to press cases of fake hate crimes unless the evidence is overwhelming. To falsely accuse a real victim of hate would be the gravest injustice, compounding the hurt and damage already suffered. And no insurance company wants to be on the wrong side of a civil trial decision accusing it of dealing in bad faith with a hate crime victim.

UPDATE: Here's a link to a much more detailed account of the sequence of events, including the name of the "victim."