Three young men stand accused of committing the murder of designer Michael Sandy in New York. Planning to rob him, the men connected with Sandy via the Web site Adam4Adam. When they met with him, they took his money, beat him and then chased him into traffic, where a car struck and killed him.

The case has taken on bizarre twists, including defense attorneys claiming two of the three men accused are themselves “gay” and therefore could not have committed a “hate” crime.

But Judge Jill Konviser, with the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, said in a written order that prosecutors need show only that the victim was chosen because of his sexual orientation to pursue charges under the state’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000.

“The evidence shows that this is not a case where hate crimes are charged simply because the victim just happened to be of a particular orientation,” Justice Konviser wrote.

“Rather, this is a case where the defendants deliberately set out to commit a violent crime against a man whom they intentionally selected because of his sexual orientation. Thus, the hate crimes charges in this case are consistent with the intent of the Legislature.”

Under New York law, like California, defendants charged with “murder motivated by hate” receive enhanced sentences, such as “life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

The Sandy murder has similarities to the case of missing San Diego State University student, Lisa Jou. Over the summer, she unknowingly met a registered sex offender through the Web site Craigslist. That was the last time anyone saw her.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide shortly whether Congress can require “adult” and other social networking Web sites to require users to verify their “adult” or “age” status. The Department of Justice wants photo identification of users to prove identity.

When Congress passed the law, it was largely because of concerns with kids accessing adult sites and others trading child porn. Now, with these recent cases, the concern has become a public safety issue.

Web site owners, however, argue that such rules would invade users’ privacy.

A local federal judge has ruled that the Boy Scouts of America’s use of Balboa Park violates the Constitution. The California Supreme Court has ruled that cities such as San Diego may legally prohibit subsidies to groups that engage in anti-gay bias.

Recently, California’s Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a brief with federal appellate judges in support of the lesbian and atheist parents whose children may not use the public lands.

In a related matter, New Jersey officials have cancelled the property tax-exempt status of a religious group that will not allow same-sex couples to marry in its facility. The facility is owned by the group, but in order to receive property tax-exempt status under a unique New Jersey law, it cannot deny access to the facility based upon sexual orientation.

Prosecutors in Jena, La. have charged six black high school students with assaulting a white classmate. Preceding the incident, white students at the high school had hung nooses from an oak tree that white students felt was for “whites” only. A non-white student had the audacity to sit under the tree.

School officials suspended the students who hung the nooses for three days, the minimum penalty, and took no further action against them.

Had the students beat up a “gay” student, it might be safe to assume nothing would have happened.

But, had the students done so in California, prosecutors would have charged them with having engaged in a felony, a hate crime.

Congress should simply require schools receiving federal funds to report hate crimes to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Failure to do so should result in a loss of federal funds, and schools officials who failed to comply should be subject to prosecution for at least a misdemeanor.