What Would You Do?

If you were on a committee looking into ways to end hate crimes what would you come up with to end the violence?

Pride events targeted in surge of anti-LGBTQ threats, violence

Extremism trackers say political hate speech is fueling a rise in demonstrations and attacks against LGBTQ communities
The Washington Post
By Hannah Allam
June 17, 2022


The surge in right-wing hate-mongering against LGBTQ people is spilling into violence, with high-profile attacks this month casting fear over Pride celebrations throughout the country.

Extremism researchers have long warned of an escalating risk as hard-right Republicans and militant groups portray LGBTQ people as “groomers” targeting children, along with other baseless smears. Now, provocateurs are acting on those messages in what President Biden last month called “rising hate and violence” targeting LGBTQ communities.

[…]

In recent days, right-wing politicians and preachers have openly called for killing LGBTQ people. On a conservative talk show, Mark Burns, a Donald Trump-allied congressional candidate from South Carolina, called “LGBT, transgender grooming” a national security threat and proposed using treason laws as the basis for “executing” parents and teaches who advocate for LGBTQ rights. In Texas last Sunday, a pastor railed against Pride month and said LGBTQ people “should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.”

A study released Thursday signals these are not isolated incidents. Anti-LGBTQ activity including demonstrations and attacks increased more than four times from 2020 to 2021, from 15 incidents to 61, according to the global nonprofit conflict-monitoring group known as ACLED. As of early June, ACLED counted 33 anti-LGBTQ incidents so far this year, indicating an even bleaker 2022.

The Department of Justice released data on hate crimes in 2020.

FBI Releases 2020 Hate Crime Statistics

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program serves as the national repository for crime data voluntarily collected and submitted by law enforcement. Its primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. The 2020 hate crimes data, submitted by 15,138 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes. Of these agencies who submitted incident reports, there were 8,263 hate crime incidents involving 11,129 offenses.

Among the 11,129 hate crime offenses reported:

• Crimes against persons: 69.6%
• Crimes against property: 28.2%
• Crimes against society: 2.2%

Of the 6,780 known offenders:

• 55.1% were White
• 21.2% were Black or African American
• 15.7% race unknown
• Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders.

Of the 6,169 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported:

• 39.3% were Not Hispanic or Latino
• 10.2% were Hispanic or Latino
• 2.4% were in a group of multiple ethnicities
• 48.1% ethnicity unknown
• Of the 6,264 known offenders for whom ages were known:
• 89.1% were 18 years of age or older

Law enforcement agencies may specify the location of an offense within a hate crime incident as 1 of 46 location designations.

Most hate crime incidents, 28.9%, occurred in or near residences/homes

• 19.9% occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/ sidewalks
• 6.5% happened in parking/drop lots/garages
• 4.2% occurred at schools/colleges
• 3.6% occurred at parks/playgrounds
• 3.4% took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques
• The location was reported as other/unknown of 8.6% of hate crime incidents
• The remaining 24.8% of hate crime incidents took place at other or multiple locations.

The Post article goes on to say,

Trans people have been particularly targeted. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, says the past year saw record violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Women of color, especially Black trans women, were the most frequent targets.

In that same time frame, state legislators introduced more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills, many of them designed to stop transgender youths from participating in sports. At least 24 of the bills were enacted, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, giving anti-LGBTQ activism “one of its most successful years” in terms of legislation.

Is there a ;ink between the two? I think that it needs to be looked into, anti-LGBTQ bills versus the anti-LGBTQ violence.

The intimidation also has led to moments of defiance, as in North Carolina, where threats of violence prompted organizers to cancel a drag queen storytelling event at Pride in Apex, a suburb of the capital, Raleigh. Local news reports said town officials had received complaints and that the festival’s chairman was warned that he and his family “will be harmed” if the event took place.

That is way these are called hate crimes and not simple assaults, that the violence if targets at the community not just the individual.

I am on a committee studying way to stop hate crimes and we discussing what to do when politicians and news media outlets are the one stirring up the hate. Because that is where the hate is coming from at the Washington Post article pointed out “...right-wing politicians and preachers have openly called for killing LGBTQ people” and “... conservative talk show, Mark Burns, a Donald Trump-allied congressional candidate from South Carolina, called “LGBT, transgender grooming” a national security threat and proposed using treason laws as the basis for 'executing” parents and teaches who advocate for LGBTQ rights.'”

How do you end the hate speech when it is protected by the first amendment and a whole national party is endorsing violence?