Gay people are society's most rejected minority. The most convincing proof is that many parents are capable of abhorring and abusing their gay child simply because that child was born that way.

If there's something in that dynamic that's against nature it's the parents' rejection of their child -- not the child's sexual orientation.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that hate crimes against gays receive the least attention. We have always been the last ones to receive protection from the law -- if ever.

Which is why we need to sound the alarm in Broward County, the scene of several attacks -- some of them fatal -- against gays. Police are not investigating these attacks as hate crimes, which carry heavier penalties. Yet gay rights groups point to evidence that the Broward attacks involved violence directed at people because of their sexual orientation.

Fort Lauderdale is known as a gay tourism magnet. What would happen if word spreads among these big-spending travelers that being openly gay can kill you? They'd stop coming, because personal security is not negotiable.

As it is, the State Attorney General's Office has ranked Broward at the top for hate crimes three years in a row. Imagine if Broward had counted all the crimes against gays in that equation.

``It is time for local authorities to classify a hate crime as a hate crime,'' said Scott Halls, president of the Fort Lauderdale-based Gay American Heroes, a foundation that honors gay victims. ``As long as our local law enforcement agencies dehumanize us by not classifying these brutal murders in Fort Lauderdale as hate crimes, they will continue to occur.''

HARD TO CLASSIFY

Last year, the Broward Sheriff's Office established a Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate and prevent this kind of felony, which is hard to classify because it must be demonstrated that the crime was committed specifically because of the victim's race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

One of the most shocking cases is that of Craig Cohen, a 47-year-old gay man who in April was on his way home in Oakland Park when he was attacked by a group of suspects who stomped on his head, shattering his skull and leaving his brain permanently damaged. The attackers took Cohen's cellphone but not his wallet. He died on Oct. 7 after being in a coma for six months.

Hours later, the same goons beat and robbed David Villanova, 27, who is also openly gay. He survived. BSO detectives determined that the sexual orientation of the victims didn't factor in when their attackers were planning or committing the crimes.

``Cohen and Villanova were innocent victims, chosen simply because they were alone and defenseless,'' Cmdr. Rick Wierzbicki of BSO's Hate Crimes Task Force said in a statement.

Another recent Fort Lauderdale incident happened to Steven, who declined to give his last name because his case is still in the courts. When he walked over to a neighbor's house during a rowdy party to ask that the revelers keep the noise down, a 21-year-old partygoer hurled a rock at him and humiliated him with insults about Steven's sexual orientation. Then he punched Steven in the face and knocked him to the ground. Steven lost a front tooth.

SUSPECT ARRESTED

The suspect was arrested three weeks later on aggravated assault charges.

``Obviously, this was a hate crime, where they targeted me because I am gay. He called me a `f----t,' '' said Steven, 39.

Florida has a law against hate crimes that includes sexual orientation. ``There is a law, but the way it is interpreted is very strange,'' Steven said.

In Washington, the U.S. Senate made history last week when it added sexual orientation to the list of hate crimes punishable by federal law. Under the legislation, federal prosecutors may intervene to try violent hate-crime cases if local authorities do not act.

I hope they arrive soon in South Florida. We need them.

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