Before we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to stop hate crime, I would challenge us to DEFINE what a hate crime actually is?

For example, in this state its apparently a hate crime for a bakery to openly reject gay customers, even if it conflicts with the bakers religious views.  In New York its apparently a hate crime now when someone refuses to address another person by their chosen pronoun. And where does it end? What if I told a stranger they had a bad hair cut, and then asked where they had it done so I could avoid that business? And what if I "TRIGGERED? someone by knowing, or unknowingly having invaded their personal space?   Would those actions also be considered hate crimes?  

In other words, the pattern now seems clear, that when someone sees or hears something they dislike, they simply exclaim those undesirable things as hate crimes, even if those things are not crimes unto themselves.  And is this how we  truly wish freedom to look like?