Hate Crime Stats
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Hate Crimes Statistics for 2006, anti-LGB crimes increased by an alarming 18% over the preceding year. The FBI report documented 1,195 incidents in which the perpetrators’ motivating factor was the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Hate crimes against LGB people account for 16% of all hate crimes in the United States.
By statute, hate crimes against transgender persons are not recorded in the FBI report, so these statistics themselves are an expression of homophobic policy and procedure. Additionally, many hate crimes are under-reported, or inappropriately qualified as suicides or non-hate related events. The statistics, then, ignore many incidents that should rightly be counted as hate crimes against LGBT persons. These deflated numbers themselves contribute to the invisibility of LGBT tragedies in America.
If this were not bad enough, the NCAVP 2008 Report on Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes shows a whopping 24% increase in 2007 over 2006. In 2007, there were 2,430 victims.
The following cities and regions showed increases of 100%, or more, when it comes to violent anti-LGBTQ incidents:
Los Angeles – 100%
Minnesota – 135%
Kansas City – 142%
Michigan – 207%
In 2008 we are seeing evidence of a chilling new dimension to the slow slaughter of LGBT people: the victimization of LGBT youths, now being targeted as much for how they present gender as for their sexual orientation. The case of 18-year-old Adolphus Simmons is just one example. On January 21, 2008, Simmons was shot to death while carrying out his trash in North Charleston, South Carolina.
FBI Reports 11% Increase in Anti-LGBT Hate Crime Attacks in 2008
In its most recent report under the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, the FBI released its annual report on hate crimes in the United States on November 23. Data for 2008 show an alarming 11% increase of violent attacks against LGBT people over 2007. For a fuller report, and commentary, see the Unfinished Lives post here.
November 2011: Though the FBI statistics for 2010 show that the numbers of all hate crimes held relatively steady, the incidents of violent attacks on gay men and transgender people are alarmingly high. Check the fuller story on what lies behind the FBI’s 2010 Hate Crimes Statistics on the Unfinished Lives post, “Gay Men and Trans People in the Cross Hairs,” here.
Law & Order
Appropriate justice in anti-gay hate crimes remains an elusive prospect. Lesser charges and reduced sentences for hate crime perpetrators point to a legal system that refuses to recognize the full humanity of the victims. Because the victims are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, the murders are regarded as less offensive in the eyes of courts, judges, and juries in many communities. Read More…
The Media and Hate Crimes
Media coverage of these outrages has been poor. The average American does not believe that anyone has been killed for being gay since the murder of Matthew Shepard. After the flurry of interest waned following Shepard’s murder in 1998, the killings of LGBT people have been buried in the back pages of newspapers or not reported at all in the national press. Read More…
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About
If you are a first-time visitor to the Unfinished Lives Project website, we invite you to read A Welcome Message introducing you to our project. We are truly grateful for your visit.
The Unfinished Lives Project website is a place of public discourse which remembers and honors LGBTQ hate crime victims, while also revealing the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender presentation. LGBTQ people in the United States are suffering a slow-rolling decimation of terror and murder all across the country. Every locale and demographic of society are affected: First Nations, Anglo, Black, Latino and Latina, South and Southeast Asian, Transgender, Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians, disabled, young, and mature. Homophobia has a long, crooked arm, and it is reaching out to snatch the life away from women and men whose tragic stories are under-reported to begin with, and whose memories are swiftly forgotten.
The horror of these killings transcends the shock and bereavement of loved ones and friends. These are not typical homicides; they are not killings for money or drugs, incidents of domestic strife, or crimes of passion. The vicious nature of hate crimes against LGBTQ persons is extremely brutal, grotesquely violent, and egregiously hateful.
Each murder serves the LGBTQ population as a sobering warning about the actual level of danger in our communities. The message these killings send is that freedom and open life for LGBTQ people is a cruel dream. Every time we remember one of these victims, however, the intentions of their killers are frustrated. To remember these women and men is to begin the process of changing the culture that killed them.
Our Project Director
Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle (Keith Tew photo).
Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out Gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBTQ person to be tenured there. Read More…
Recent Social Justice Advocacy Activity By Dr. Sprinkle
Summer 2009 – Dr. Sprinkle responded to the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Raid on the Rainbow Lounge, Fort Worth’s newest gay bar, on June 28, 2009, the exact 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Dr. Sprinkle was invited to speak at three protest events sponsored by Queer LiberAction of Dallas. Here, he is keynoting the Rainbow Lounge Protest at the Tarrant County Courthouse on July 12, 2009. Read More…
Contact Us
Communicate with the Unfinished Lives project team:
info@unfinishedlivesblog.com
Schedule a Presentation
Dr. Sprinkle will gladly present his acclaimed presentation to your organization. To arrange an Unfinished Lives presentation for your organization or group, please contact us.
Dr. Sprinkle has given his Unfinished Lives presentation to these and other community groups and organizations. Read More…
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Publisher: Steve Sprinkle (Project Director)
Steve Sprinkle
Unfinished Lives: Remembering LGBT Hate Crime VictimsBrite Divinity School/Texas Christian UniversityFort Worth TXprofessor, minister, author, blogger, LGBTQ advocate
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Unfinished Lives 
This is horrible news, but very useful to me in my nudging, cajoling and debating my local UCC Church Board into understanding why becoming an Open & Accepting congregation MATTERS GREATLY.
Thank you for putting this blog together and for the work that you do!
Dave Cope
Quiet Corner, CT
[…] Hate Crime Statistics at Unfinished Lives […]
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I would like to show how hate crimes do happen and this type of crime needs to stop and others need to realize that discrimination agaist LGBT needs to stop and is a criminal offense. Any advice you can give me to find more information on hate crimes or any other criminal offenses against LGBT I would appreciate it. I am not gay but I believe being gay, leasbian, bi-sexual or transgender is not a choice it is who you are and everyone should be PROUD of who they are and be able not to hide it either!!!!!!!
Thanks for your stand for equality, and your genuine concern about hate crimes. One of the best resources I know about is Hate Crimes: Confronting Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men by Professor Gregory M Herek and Kevin T. Berrill. It was published in 1991, which makes it a little long in the tooth statistically, but Prof. Herek is a great resource for your study. You will want to get to know some of the blogs and websites I list on my site, too, Tina. Follow the links by clicking on the names of the groups, and you will have a great set of resources to understand much about violence against LGBT people in the United States.
Don’t Let The U.S. Senate Close The Door On Her Face!
http://tinyurl.com/cky48rw
[…] Lesser charges and reduced sentences for hate crime perpetrators point to a legal system that refuses to recognize the full humanity of the victims […]
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isn’t it interesting that the states that consider themselves progressive have the highest percentage of hate crimes!
We represent 10% of the population, with another 10% that are either not out, or friends, family, lovers & significant others of GLBT people so my question has always been “Why are we not better represented”, “Why are politicians not pandering to the GLBT communities for votes in exchange for voice & support? We need a leader, a lobbyist or some other ability to let our voices be known. Simply having a democrat in the WH is not the answer tho many GLBT people think it is. It is bipartisan & needs some seriously devoted people to come together & make a difference. I want to do this but need to find the people willing to show me how to get started, I am ready to dedicate the rest of my working life to GLBT rights & recognition. Is there anyone out there who wants to assist me in the right direction, organizations etc…?