Well, you're not someone whom *I* would define as "transphobic" -- but then, I *don't* have the experience of surviving in this world as a transgender person, so I'm not sure how meaningful my assessment is.

I do know that you're someone who would be willing to have real authentic conversations with transgender people, and you care about their lives as human beings. I don't know how many transgender people you've interacted with or discussed these topics with, in your life, so I'm hesitant to make any assumptions about your relationships (or lack thereof) with folks who identify as trans.

Regarding the concept of "hate crimes" -- I think the distinction is whether the crime was racially-motivated or motivated by any other attribute. The problem, of course, is how do you PROVE the guilty party's intent? If it can be proven, however, I'm fine with designating it as a hate crime.

Hate speech is different from hate crimes, though. We punish aribitrary crimes, but we don't legally punish arbitrary speech. Therefore, if someone commits a hate crime, it should be punished; but governmental ramifications against hate speech will guide us down that slippery slope toward censorship and Stalin's Russia.

You and I should talk about the locker room issue, sometime, because it's an extremely multifaceted discussion.