The word is out.
On Tuesday, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a coalition of over 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victim advocacy and documentation programs, released their annual report on the incidence of violence against LGBT people in the United States. The news is definitely not good.
From the report:
In the continuation of a trend that started with the 2003 edition of this report, the number of offenders (which had remained stable or actually declined in previous years) rose by 7% from 2,467 in 2003 to 2,637 in 2004 - a rate almost twice as high as either victims or incidents.
The ongoing move away from fewer and fewer perpetrators involved in anti-LGBT incidents is perhaps one of the most distressing findings of this report. It signals a truly retrograde environment in which years of progress resulting in fewer people willing to violently act out anti-LGBT bias has been substantially reversed. With respect to hate related violence, we are in fact "back to the future."
This is depressing news, but this trend was not unexpected or suprising.
And before you let your regional biases show, let me tell you that these trends hold true in places like Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and San Francisco.
There were a few places showing decreases: Cleveland, New York, and Pennsylvania. I'm glad to see that Pennsylvania's numbers are waning. They were known to be a hotbed of intolerance in the 90s, sprouting KKK rallies like ragweed and crabgrass. Tolerance.org has a cool story about how two Pennsylvania towns dealt with the growth of hate groups in their area.
We have to continue to struggle against hate crimes in every possible venue. With the hate speech spewing forth from the pulpits, publications, and Web pages of the religious supremacists who are determined to contort this country into a christian theocracy, it's no wonder that hate crimes against LGBT folks are on the rise.
I'm only beginning to understand a tiny bit of what black people have put up with all their lives. Oh, I understood it on a local scale. It's the entire nation seemingly foaming at the mouth that is so new.
Breathe deeply, my progressive friends. You will need all the energy you can muster for the next round of volleys against the gentle angry people they call "queer".
