Hate Crimes Are Up, Especially Against LGBTQ People. Advocates Blame Far-Right Politicians.

LGBTQ advocates are expressing concern after FBI data released this week revealed that despite a decrease in violent crime across the U.S., hate crimes — particularly against their community — increased in 2023.

Despite regular conservative rhetoric that violent crime is on the rise, the FBI findings, which are based on local law enforcement submissions, showed a 3% overall decrease from 2022 to 2023. That’s a return to what had been years of falling crime rates since the 1990s, with the exception of an increase amid the social upheaval starting with the 2020 pandemic. But the new data also showed hate crimes have increased in the past two years, with the largest increase against LGBTQ people.

Analysis by ABC News revealed there were at least 2,389 recorded incidents where bias against a victim’s sexual orientation, excluding heterosexuality, was a motivator. In 2022, that number was about 2,188 and about 1,300 in 2021.

ABC News also reported that gender identity-based incidents have increased from 307 recorded offenses in 2021 to 515 in 2022 and 547 in 2023.

Multiple LGBTQ advocates said the FBI data tracks with what they’ve been seeing in recent years.

In an email to HuffPost, Sasha Buchert, director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, attributed the escalation of hate and violence to how far-right politicians talk about LBGTQ people.

“Such attacks are heartbreaking and despicable, and are badly out of step with American support of LGBTQ people, who are part of our families, our communities, and our country,” Buchert said.

Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign president, said in a press release that public acceptance of LGBTQ people has continued to grow, in spite of the hate the community faces.

“Make no mistake, politicians who spread disinformation and demonize our lives are contributing to this violence,” Robinson said.

The ACLU is currently tracking more than 500 proposed bills and policies that target LGBTQ+ people, including, but not limited to, barriers to accurate IDs, health care restrictions and weakening of civil rights laws.

“This trend needs to end. LGBTQ+ people need full non-discrimination protections in law, nationwide. All law enforcement agencies must commit to fully reporting data on hate crimes in their communities,” Robinson said in her statement. “And politicians and community leaders across the country need to stop lying about our community and inciting hatred against us.”

Heron Greenesmith, deputy director of policy at the Transgender Law Center, told HuffPost in an email that they “saw this coming with the rise of anti-trans rhetoric, the rise in anti-trans legislation, and now we’re seeing the rise in anti-trans violence.”

Greenesmith added that after acknowledging the violence, the solution is to actively work to find community-based alternatives to policing. They noted that hate crime laws have resulted in longer prison sentences that disproportionately impact Black and other people of color.

“The carceral system is not a safe place for anyone,” they said. “We do not need hate crimes laws to keep us safe. In fact, we keep us safe.”