FBI Data Shows Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes On the Rise
Following sharp spike in 2022, bias-motivated hate crimes against LGBTQ people continue to increase, even as crime overall is down.
Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity are on the rise, pointing to a worrisome trend.
According to FBI data, even though violent crime overall decreased by 3% from 2022 to 2023, bias-motivated crimes overall, as well as crimes believed to be motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity, increased.
The FBI counted 2,936 incidents believed to have been motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation and gender identity in 2023 — constituting an 8.6% rise from about 2,700 in 2022.
Bias based on a person’s sexual orientation constituted about 18.1% of all bias-motivated crimes, while bias based on a person’s gender identity constituted 4.3% of all hate crimes — comprising the third and fourth most prevalent bias motivations, behind race or ethnicity and religion.
Sexual orientation — excluding crimes directed against victims due to their real or perceived heterosexuality — constituted 2,389 incidents, or 81% of anti-LGBTQ crimes. That marked a 9.1% uptick over 2,188 crimes in 2022 and an 83% increase from the 1,300 recorded in 2021.
The FBI data also show incidents directed against people due to their gender identity or their gender-nonconformity have also increased over that same period, spiking from 307 incidents in 2021, to 515 incidents in 2022 and 547 in 2023.
The largest spike in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes appears to coincide with the introduction of anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced at the state level, which ramped up in 2022 as Republicans and conservatives seized on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric as a potentially beneficial campaign issue.
The number of bills introduced each year that are aimed at restricting LGBTQ rights or visibility has also gone up in subsequent years, although they are passing with less frequency this year than in 2022 or 2023.
The American Civil Liberties Union is currently tracking 530 anti-LGBTQ bills that were introduced this year, including bans on gender-affirming care, school content restrictions (whether for curricula or library books), bans on transgender participation in sports, and prohibitions on changing gender markers on identity documents.
The vast majority of those bills — 343 — have been defeated thus far, although they can be revived.
The Human Rights Campaign places much of the blame for the increase on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, including allegations that LGBTQ people are “grooming” or “indoctrinating” children.
“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,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the latest FBI hate crimes data shows that even as public acceptance of LGBTQ+ people continues to grow, and overall crime continues to decline, hate crimes against us are not yet showing signs of subsiding.
“Make no mistake, politicians who spread disinformation and demonize our lives are contributing to this violence.”
“Today’s abysmal FBI report highlights that it is still dangerous to be LGBTQ+ in this country,” Brian K. Bond, the CEO of PFLAG National, said in a statement. “Our LGBTQ+ loved ones need both our compassion and our action to make our communities safe and our laws inclusive, so every LGBTQ+ person can be safe, celebrated, affirmed and loved everywhere in the U.S.”
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