Nat Hentoff takes a stand. Its futile at this point, I fear. The identity-industrial complex demands these laws and any opposition to them is portrayed as anti-minority (or in the case of those applying to gender, anti-everyone). On the gay issue, there's a map after the jump showing which states already have such laws on the books. The vast majority of gays are already protected. But that wouldn't give HRC a fund-raising tool.
State has hate crimes laws but do not recognize sexual orientation or gender identity as a basis for bias. Sexual orientation is a protected class for the purpose of data collection about hate crimes. Sexual orientation is a protected class for the purpose of hate crime legislation. Sexual orientation and gender identity is a protected class for the purpose of hate crime legislation.