Court Rules LGBTQ People Not Covered by West Virginia Hate Crime Law
West Virginia law makes it a felony to injure or intimidate someone because of their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or sex. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not listed as protected classes.
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But in a highly unusual move, the West Virginia Attorney General's office — normally tasked with arguing for the county prosecutor — filed a brief in defense of the football player. That pitted the state against itself, essentially, in court.
"I've never seen it happen before," Cabell County Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Plymale told NBC News over the phone on Thursday. "They usually represent us."
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The circuit court disagreed, saying in May 2016 that sex and sexual orientation are two distinct categories — and if the West Virginia legislature had meant for sexual orientation to be protected by law, they would have written it in.
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In a 25-page opinion issued Wednesday,
the West Virginia Supreme Court noted that several attempts to get sexual orientation added to the state's hate crime law had failed.
"It is certainly not absurd for this Court to recognize not only the Legislature's right to define crimes and their punishment, but also the Legislature's indisputable intent not to expand West Virginia Code to include 'sexual orientation,'" the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Allen Loughry stated.
