Also, it's not only LGBT people who get assaulted. I've been
assaulted, more than once. So why should we delve ever more deeply
into ever expanding categories of marginalization instead of just
saying we won't tolerate behaviour X (e.g. "physical harm")?
I feel this is a worn out point so I dislike having to share it, but this is the difference between a personal assault and a hate crime;
If somebody you got into conflict at a bar assaults you for something you did or said, it's horrible but it's just between you two. Somebody watching the fight is unlikely to fear being assaulted themselves.
When I as an LGBT person (and I agree about alphabet soup) learn about another LGBT person being assaulted because they are LGBT I fear that I or somebody I love will be assaulted. This is why we call these "hate crimes".
If a person on a group chat calls another person a f** they are not insulting that other person only, regardless to if that other person is LGBT, they are stating to the entire group that their group does not include LGBT. The word itself is used this way by enough people to include this meaning by its utterance.
This is why I post YouTube videos with LGBT people doing tough work on my land, it shows LGBT people being tough which is essentially the opposite of hate crimes. These silly little 15 second shorts are watched on repeat by thousands of people who need to see other LGBT people being strong. And that is why I hobble down to record and post these moments despite needing a walking stick and often help walking. This is why I founded the world's first transgender rugby club and posted all the videos of transmen playing rugby, people tell me these videos helped them.
That is who I am. I just ask you to not be indifferent to these issues. It's not just about punishing people who write unkind words in group chat, it's about the marginalized people who read our CoC.