A 90 page report released by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs examining data from nearly 2,000 hate crimes and incidents in eleven regions of the U.S. noted an 11% increase in anti-LGBT murders, among other disturbing statistics. The report is viewed as a continuation and follow-up to a 2003 report which showed a 26% increase in anti-LGBT violence.
The increase has been attributed to the striking down of sodomy laws, the fight for marriage rights, anti-gay state ballot initiatives and the “demonization” of lesbians and gay men during the past election cycle. Executive Director Clarence Patton: “In the last edition of this report it became all too clear that with respect to violence, the nation's LGBT communities had entered a very new, and very dangerous era in which all of us were under attack at levels not seen in recent years.”
