In 2015, I was assaulted at Penn State University after revealing I was gay. The subsequent police investigation confirmed this to be true. However, it was not considered a hate crime & my attacker went to prison for only a month.
If he had been charged with a hate crime the minimum sentence would've been one year.
Less than a year after his release, my attacker raped a woman.
He would have been incarcerated during the time of the rape - if only Pennsylvania had listened.
We cannot let things like this happen in America. Now, an innocent woman must endure life-altering trauma that she didn't have to. Hate crimes explain the intention of the attack. When the intention is simply to hurt someone for who they are, it is indicative of much more sinister things to come from the individual. Please. Sign my petition. Share it with your loved ones. Let's change this once and for all.
Together.