In Pennsylvania this would be a felony... no time to post link, but new law passed a year or so ago says that any misdemenor (breach of peace) is elevated to felony if there is any component to the crime involving protected groups (which even includes the obese, so in PA if he had said, Hey Fat A&* hurry up with my order, it would still be a felony)... Of course, the laws are written so that you don't need to show intent (thanks to the WOD and decades of precedents) welcome to Amerika comrade...
I remember the Reginald Denny case in LA during the Rodney King riots in 1992--his attackers just made up the charge that he had used a racial epithet before they attacked him. And the case of the guy in Todd County, Kentucky, who was shot to death for having a Confederate flag on his pickup, back about 1994--also accused of using the "N-word" without any cause to believe that the accusation was true. (The New Yorker ran an article essentially justifying the killing, by the author who published Confederates in the Attic.)
"any misdemenor (breach of peace) is elevated to felony if there is any component to the crime involving protected groups (which even includes the obese, so in PA if he had said, Hey Fat A&* hurry up with my order, it would still be a felony)"
So if a guy rejected a date from a girl because he thought she was too fat, he's automatically a felon.
Dear America : My allegiance to you is on the line. If you decide to go down the Western European path of socialism and criminalization of hate speech, I will decide to disavow my allegiance to you.