According to , anti-LGBTQ hate crimes skyrocketed in 2022, increasing by more than 19 percent compared to 2021. FBI Annual Crime Report It was released on Monday.
More than 11,600 hate crimes were reported to the FBI in 2022, the most since the agency began tracking it in 1991. The report says the majority of hate crimes recorded last year targeted black people.
Hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people have increased significantly compared to 2021, with 622 anti-LGBTQ hate crimes due to a single bias reported. Hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias increased by more than 35% year-over-year to 338 incidents.
Kelly Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights organization, called the rise in hate crimes “shocking and heartbreaking, but sadly, not unexpected.” .
“A constant stream of hostile rhetoric from anti-equality extremists, coupled with the persistent passage of discrimination bills in state legislatures, particularly those targeting transgender individuals, has fueled violent tendencies. “It has created a sadly foreseeable environment in which people with disabilities may respond to this rhetoric,” Robinson said on Monday. statement.
Robinson, who testified before Congress last year during the first hearing on the surge in anti-LGBTQ violence and hate speech, said Monday’s FBI data was “another alarming indicator of the state of emergency our communities are in.” “It will be,” he added. ”
In June, the Human Rights Campaign declared a national emergency against LGBTQ people in the United States for the first time in its 40-year history, citing the passage of a law targeting the community. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), at least 84 of which became law. Most measures threaten to roll back the rights of transgender youth.
President Biden denounced laws targeting LGBTQ people as “hateful” and “dangerous” in a speech Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington.
“Families across the country are now facing the excruciating decision to move to another state to protect their children from dangerous anti-LGBTQ laws,” he said.
Biden recognized several LGBTQ people and allies who have lost their lives to anti-LGBTQ violence this year, including O’Shea Sibley, who was stabbed to death while dancing at a Brooklyn gas station. Colin Smith died defending a friend from anti-LGBTQ harassment. Laura Ann Carlton was shot and killed by a man. made a “derogatory remark” About the rainbow pride flag that hung outside her clothing store in Lake Arrowhead, California.
Biden similarly warned about the rise in anti-LGBTQ violence last week in a statement commemorating the 25th anniversary of the killing of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, 21. Mr Shepherd was brutally attacked and later died from his injuries. The most infamous anti-gay hate crime in U.S. history.
“Today, as threats and violence targeting the LGBTQI+ community continue to rise, our work is not done yet,” Biden said in the newspaper on October 12. statement. “No American should face hatred or violence for himself or his loved ones.”
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