The Emotional Dimensions of Lesbian and Gay Demands for Hate Crime Reform‪.‬

"Hate crime" has become an important focus in contemporary lesbian and gay politics. This article explores an aspect of this resort to law that has not been addressed in the sexual politics of "hate crime"--the emotional investments that are being made in and through this demand for law. Recognition of the emotions underscoring a demand for law challenges the foundational assumption about the nature of law--at it is quintessentially associated with reason and rationality. A key theme within the hate crime canon is the demand for enhanced penalties attached to existing offences when those offences are motivated by hatred proscribed by law. The author argues that the gay and lesbian demand for law reform feeds a law and order politics of retribution and revenge that may be implicated in the promotion, institutionalization, and legitimation of hate. The author does not intend, however, to dismiss the turn to "hate" or "bias" crimes on the basis that they will be ineffective or destructive of social cohesion. Instead, he hopes to draw attention to the complex and contradictory nature of the relationship between sexuality, state, and violence in order to contribute to a debate that will query the alliance that lesbians and gay men are making with law and order.