The three men suspected of beating up 26-year-old gay man Burke Burnett and throwing him onto a fire have been charged with aggravated assault with hate crime enhancements.

The suspected assailants, James Mitchell Lasater III, Micky Joe Smith, and Daniel Shawn Martin, all have very Texas names and two of them are repeat offenders. They'll face trial in the coming months. I was a little surprised that even Texas has a hate crimes law, but apparently it was passed in 2001 and signed into law by none other than current presidential laughing stock Rick Perry. Rick Perry is good for the gays! Who knew?