Hate crimes against the LGBT community have ticked upward for the third year in a row. Statistics released this week by the FBI showed that the number of victims of bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation increased by 11 percent in 2008.
Overall, the number of reported hate crimes increased by about 2 percent. The same figures show the 11 percent increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation, and a nearly 9 percent increase in hate crimes based on religion. Racially motivated hate crimes fell by less than 1 percent, according to the report. The FBI does not compare year-to-year trends in hate crimes. It should be considered that the uptick could be due in part to the increase in the reporting of hate crimes. Last year, for example, 2,145 different agencies reported hate crimes to the FBI, up from 2,025 agencies in 2007.
But the numbers continue to bear out the fact that hate crimes are being committed against LGBT Americans and that is unacceptable.
This increase in bias attacks includes vandalism, property damage, intimidation, and physical assault. The new numbers come just weeks after President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law and just days after victims of anti-transgender hate were mourned during the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
At the event in Oakland, longtime transgender activist and Stonewall veteran Miss Major urged the more than 100 people in attendance to "get off your ass and help change this shit." Major said that it's not enough to remember those who have lost their lives to violence or HIV/AIDS. "We are people," she said, and those who are continuing to fight for justice must reach out and become more involved.
The transgender people around the world who died �" 101 so far in 2009, according to a chart in the Day of Remembrance program �" "lived their truth," Major said.
"These are my people and I'm sick of it," she added.
Speaking about deaths due to HIV/AIDS, Shelly Stinson, the HIV prevention coordinator for the Alameda County Office of AIDS administration, pointed out that some of those being remembered lost their lives due to what she called "passive violence." That is, transgender women who were diagnosed with HIV but were denied medical treatment or access to medicine because they were transgender.
And it's reminiscent of the Tyra Hunter case, in which a transgender woman was injured in a car accident in 1995 in Washington, D.C. and died after paramedics refused her treatment after discovering her birth sex.
Somehow, it's appropriate that the FBI's 2008 hate crimes statistics were released between the Day of Remembrance and World AIDS Day, because it gives people an opportunity to recommit to ending violence against members of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities. In the last week, there were several incidents of anti-gay violence in the news: a young gay man in Puerto Rico was murdered and a gay teenager in Baltimore was stabbed to death. There have been arrests in both cases. In Houston, a gay teenager told police that he was beaten with a metal pipe as onlookers did nothing.
These violent crimes must end. And it once again underscores the need for more education �" in schools and in homes �" so that people can learn the simple rule that violence is never appropriate. Part of that education is to continue building bridges with other communities that also face discrimination. In this season of thanksgiving, no one should fear living their lives openly and authentically.