![burning gay flag a hate crime burning gay flag a hate crime](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vidthumb/cced2b91-ed4c-49c3-80e8-50a59d6d7fa7/cced2b91-ed4c-49c3-80e8-50a59d6d7fa7_image.jpg)
The idea that free speech means free speech is a jewel of American exceptionalism.
![burning gay flag a hate crime burning gay flag a hate crime](https://dixon.philly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1176933_072beaeb7e7241b.jpg)
Unlike Canada, Europe and American colleges, the U.S. Calling the cops “pigs” or singing “F- da Police”? Also no problem, legally speaking. The First Amendment allows you to register disapproval of the government in whatever expressive way you choose, though watch out for the arson laws. Burning an American flag, the Supreme Court says, is free speech. The absurdity of the sentence points up the larger absurdity of hate crimes as a class of criminal offense.
#Burning gay flag a hate crime plus#
Martinez’s strike three, inflating his five-year maximum to 15, plus an extra year for the reckless use of fire. So what seemed on its face to be a minor infraction suddenly became Mr. Martinez complicated his own defense by telling a local TV station that he had torched the flag because he didn’t like gay people and had “burned down their pride, plain and simple.” In response, the judge increased the misdemeanor arson charge to a hate-crime charge-a felony, normally carrying a maximum of five years in prison. Martinez of three misdemeanors-third-degree arson, for which the maximum penalty is two years in prison, along with third-degree harassment and the reckless use of fire, each subject to a maximum one-year term. He had two felony convictions, and Iowa law deems any three-time felon an “habitual offender,” subject to enhanced sentencing. Martinez, 30, has a long criminal history, which partly explains the long sentence.