For the first time, crimes directed against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation are the second most frequent hate crime committed after crimes based on race, according to the 2011 Hate Crimes statistics released yesterday by the FBI as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Surpassing crimes committed on the basis on religion, the number of reported hate crimes committed against gay men and lesbians increased from 1,277 in 2010 to 1,293 in 2011.
“The 2011 FBI hate crimes data is a sad reminder that even as we make great strides toward equality under the law, LGBT people in face dangers in America,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “We must rid our country of the violence that has devastated our community for far too long.”
Hate crimes statistics are submitted to the FBI by law enforcement agencies across the country on a voluntary basis – there is no requirement under the law for agencies to submit the data. In 2011, the number of agencies reporting this data dropped to 14,575, a decrease from 14,977 the previous year. Of these data-submitting agencies, only 1,944 reported even a single hate crime to the FBI, the lowest number of agencies reporting one or more hate crimes since 2002.
