And this shows why, when I begin to believe that we're better than that, I'm always disappointed

A woman was recently gang raped by four men in California.

As if that wasn't traumatic enough, she didn't even like men in the first place.

The authorities are investigating it as a hate crime, since her car had rainbow and gay pride bumper stickers prominently displayed, and since she said that the rape was accompanied by taunts about her orientation.

There is no justification for this. She didn't "ask for it," as some of the commenters on the news story have said. She didn't set herself up for it by setting herself apart. She did not deserve it, and she will be a long time recovering from it, if she ever can.

However, I don't really like the idea of labeling it a "hate crime."

I don't think the four rapists targeted that woman, specifically, because she was gay. It's just as likely that any woman showing up at that particular place at that particular time would have been attacked in the same way by the four goons who are never described well enough to be found and arrested (i.e., probably racial minorities, which the media won't report on because it's racist).

I don't think that proposition 8 sparked it, either. Some gay rights activists say that anti-gay individuals see such legislation as justification. I don't know but what it might; however, I think it's as likely (if not more likely) that it's the gay lobby's own violent reaction to proposition 8 and similar legislation that sparks such violence.

After all, proposition 8 won mostly on racial minorities' votes.

Whatever the case, again, the victim was just that: a victim. She did not deserve the attack. She did not provoke it. She was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I'm praying for her recovery.

I'm also praying that her attackers are quickly found and punished, if not by legal means, then by divine retribution.