Oct 16, 2010 5:50 AM GMT
So I was walking to the bank today when I was stopped by some guy who asked me if I wanted to fill out this survey.
Apparently the surveyors (I guess students or so) wanted to gauge the opinions on gay people and what is perceived as hate crime.
It was one page with a handful of questions. The first one was if i lived in the West End (yes). The second was phrases something like "There are many gay people living in the West End, do you agree with this". I found the question rather strange, as if it's up to me to agree with whomever lives in the area. It was a multiple choice question going from strongly agree to strongly disagree. I figured it'd be best to just say "agree" to keep it neutral.
The interesting question was about the perception of hate crimes. This was the question:
"Two men, a couple, walk into a cafe, and sit down at the bar. After about 10 minutes the bartender has still not asked them for their order. When one of the men asks the bartender if he can take their order, the bartender says he will not have gay people in his bar, and that he refuses to service them. Furthermore, he tells them to leave as he does not want any gay people in his bar. Do you think this constitutes a hate crime?"
So I answered no to this question. I'm not even sure if refusing service at a bar is legal (I reckon it is actually), and as the word "hate crime" is rather heavy and usually associated with physical crimes, I figured this would be one fucked up incident but not exactly worthy of the term "hate crime".
On the other hand, it might be technically argued as being one.
So what do you guys think?
Apparently the surveyors (I guess students or so) wanted to gauge the opinions on gay people and what is perceived as hate crime.
It was one page with a handful of questions. The first one was if i lived in the West End (yes). The second was phrases something like "There are many gay people living in the West End, do you agree with this". I found the question rather strange, as if it's up to me to agree with whomever lives in the area. It was a multiple choice question going from strongly agree to strongly disagree. I figured it'd be best to just say "agree" to keep it neutral.
The interesting question was about the perception of hate crimes. This was the question:
"Two men, a couple, walk into a cafe, and sit down at the bar. After about 10 minutes the bartender has still not asked them for their order. When one of the men asks the bartender if he can take their order, the bartender says he will not have gay people in his bar, and that he refuses to service them. Furthermore, he tells them to leave as he does not want any gay people in his bar. Do you think this constitutes a hate crime?"
So I answered no to this question. I'm not even sure if refusing service at a bar is legal (I reckon it is actually), and as the word "hate crime" is rather heavy and usually associated with physical crimes, I figured this would be one fucked up incident but not exactly worthy of the term "hate crime".
On the other hand, it might be technically argued as being one.
So what do you guys think?