At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, the Seattle Human Rights Commission and the Seattle LGBT Commission are teaming up to host a Hate Crimes Forum at City Hall, filled with experts and regular ol' folks who've been targeted and victimized because of their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, skin color, or religion (among other things). The first part of the forum will be devoted to the nuts and bolts of biased crimes: educating the public on what, exactly, constitutes a hate crime, how to report a hate crime if you're the victim of one (or witness one), and how these crimes are prosecuted.

But the real fun* happens after that, when attendees will be asked to share their experiences with hate crimes in Seattle and Washington state. These anecdotes aren't just a healthy spleen-relieving exercise, they'll be used to inform future hate crime policy changes. In other words, your words are important.

So come, hear what prosecutors and law enforcement agents have to say about hate crimes, and then tell them what they're missing.

Monday's panel starts at 6:00 p.m. in the Bertha Landes Room in Seattle City Hall.

*Fun in the way booster shots are fun.