For me, the defining factors of a hate crime are (1) that it targets people based on membership in a group that forms a significant component of their identity, whether innate or chosen, and (2) that it targets them specifically and solely because of that identity characteristic, in a way that implicitly threatens and intimidates all members of that group.
There's a difference between a hobby and a subculture/lifestyle. The reason we punish hate crimes more harshly than the equivalent "normal" crime is that hate crimes terrorize an entire community in addition to the physical harm they inflict upon the victim. I think explicit anti-subculture violence fits that description.
Re: Mancester Police now consider attacks on Goths etc Hate Crimes
For me, the defining factors of a hate crime are (1) that it targets people based on membership in a group that forms a significant component of their identity, whether innate or chosen, and (2) that it targets them specifically and solely because of that identity characteristic, in a way that implicitly threatens and intimidates all members of that group.
There's a difference between a hobby and a subculture/lifestyle. The reason we punish hate crimes more harshly than the equivalent "normal" crime is that hate crimes terrorize an entire community in addition to the physical harm they inflict upon the victim. I think explicit anti-subculture violence fits that description.