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Article: Canon to the ordinary. (debate over what constitutes a hate crime)(Column)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- November 9, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Only hours after Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical on Fides et Ratio the body of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was laid to rest in the town of Casper. Outside the funeral a group of protesters, led by a Kansas minister, gathered to shout epithets at the bereaved. Shepard, their signs read, would burn in hell because "God hates fags." At the same time, the Casper City Council declared a one-day ban on protesters -- an extreme, unfortunate yet arguably necessary measure under the circumstances -- while the Wyoming State legislature could not even agree that there is such a thing as a hate crime. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, New Yorkers ...