By Brooke Migdon - 09/24/24

Hate crimes motivated by anti-LGBTQ animus rose again last year, according to FBI data published Monday, a troubling increase that gay and transgender rights advocates believe is linked to ramped-up rhetoric and legislation targeting the community.

“Every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer person in this country should be free to live their lives without fear that we’ll be the target of a violent incident purely because of who we are and who we love,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ civil rights organization.

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

While violent crime in the U.S. fell roughly 3 percent from 2022 to 2023, hate crimes were largely unchanged, according to the FBI report. Sexual orientation and gender identity ranked as the third and fourth most prevalent bias motivation in 2023, behind race and ethnicity — which accounted for more than 50 percent of all hate crimes last year — and religion.

The FBI recorded 2,402 incidents related to a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation in 2023, up from 1,947 in 2022. Incidents related to an individual’s gender identity totaled 547 last year, compared with 469 in 2022.

More than 20 percent of hate crimes reported in 2023 were motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, according to Monday’s FBI report, roughly unchanged from 2022.

“This trend needs to end,” Robinson said. “It’s time we build an America where LGBTQ+ folks don’t just survive, they thrive — in every town, every state, every corner of this nation. That’s not just a dream, it’s our fundamental right as Americans.”

Last summer, the Human Rights Campaign declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. for the first time in its 40-year history, citing the passage of laws that target the community. At least 530 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed this year in state legislatures, according to the ACLU, though most of them — 343 bills — failed to become law.

In 2022, the then-Democratic-controlled House held a first-of-its-kind hearing examining the connection between anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric to violence against LGBTQ people in the U.S. In June, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned that Pride celebrations are likely targets for foreign terrorist organizations, and the State Department in a separate warning said U.S. citizens traveling abroad during Pride Month should “stay alert” in locations frequented by tourists, including “venues frequented by LGBTQI+ persons.”