Hate crimes are soaring in major US cities and LGBTQ folks are most at risk

From 2021 to 2022, hate crimes in major U.S. cities hit a record high for the second year in a row, with three of the top five targeted groups pertaining to the LGBTQ community. Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles rank as the top three cities with the largest increase in hate crimes.

Brian Levin is the author of the 2023 Report to the Nation, which is currently in its final editorial stages before being released to the public. Levin is the director and professor emeritus at the California State University Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE). In an exclusive interview with NPR, Levin shared some of his preliminary findings and said that “political or social invective that is used by celebrities and politicians correlates to increases against targeted groups.”

In CSHE’s multi-city hate crime survey, the five greatest percentage increases include: of “other race/ethnicity,” up 94%; anti-LGBTQ community at large, up 52.6%; anti-gender nonconforming—which includes drag, up 47%; anti-Jewish, up 29%; and anti-trans hate crime up 28%. Based on this data, Levin tells Reckon that there is a connection between groups that are addressed negatively, and the hate crimes members of those groups faced.

“There’s a printed circuit of stereotypes, which labels who is a legitimate target of aggression in a subculture,” he said. “And in certain subcultures, it’s gay and transgender people who are categorized as threats to society and individually as groomers or people who exploit young children. Of course, that’s a toxic lie.”

At an increase of 87.4%, Chicago becomes the number one major city with the highest increase rate of hate crimes from 2021 to 2022. According to the report’s Bias Motivation section, Chicago’s top reported hate crimes pertain to being motivated by racism. That doesn’t, however, negate any incidents against LGBTQ residents of the city.

Outside of a Chicago gay bar just last month, three queer men were killed in a hit-and-run, while a fourth victim was critically injured. During a news conference following the shooting, the Chicago police claimed it “appears to be intentional,” but would not move forward with the case being investigated as a hate crime due to the lack of concrete details.

Earlier this year, Chicago-based 21-year-old trans woman Unique Banks was killed in an alleged anti-trans shooting. The Deputy Police Chief Sean Loughran confirmed that police were investigating the shooting as a “targeted home invasion,” rather than a hate crime.

In an article in The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research organization, Rashawn Ray breaks down how hate crimes are underreported. “America over-individualizes and normalizes domestic terror incidents—particularly ones committed by white men,” said Ray, who gave examples like the shooting of several Asian women in Atlanta by a white man who was not charged with a hate crime and was deemed to have had “a really bad day.”

Hate crimes in Austin, according to the CSHE report, follows Chicago as the second city with the highest increase at 55.2%. The number one target throughout 2022 in Austin’s hate crimes were queer men, though there was also one case against a queer woman.

Back in June a 24-year-old queer woman in the suburbs of Austin was found dead with a gunshot wound outside of a gas station. A witness shared that the alleged assailant had yelled homophobic slurs at the woman, pulled a gun and shot her three times before fleeing the scene in his car. Her father deemed it a hate crime, though the police claimed to have little information on a possible motive.

Johnathan Gooch’s testimony aligns with Levin’s reports on Austin and Texas at large, saying that there has been an alarming increase in hate crimes statewide. Gooch is the Communications Director at Equality Texas, an LGBTQ political advocacy organization.

Texas is in a unique position due to its staggering amount of anti-trans bills during this year’s legislation, taking the lead with 65 proposed bills. Gooch believes lawmakers are to be held accountable for the surge in hate crimes.

“The pervasiveness of hateful rhetoric and the increase in violence falls squarely at the feet of lawmakers,” he said. “Whether or not they deserve it, lawmakers and public figures are regarded as models in our society. So, when they disseminate disinformation and align themselves with hateful groups, they embolden the most radical among us to be violent toward LGBTQ+ Texans.”

At large, Gooch has seen a consistent escalation in hateful discourse and violence toward the community, saying that “an election year is only likely to fuel even more tension.”

“Many on the far right have solidly aligned themselves with the anti-LGBTQ+ fringe, despite the fact that even Republicans think there is too much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation” he added. “Most Texans support the LGBTQ+ community, so, it’s time for Texas lawmakers to learn and listen to their constituents rather than acting out the fantasies of West Texas billionaires who want to impose their morality on the 30 million people that live here. Texans deserve better.”

Los Angeles is the third city with the highest increase in hate crimes. It also happens to be the most drastic in anti-LGBTQ motivations compared to the two previous cities.

According to the report, Los Angeles saw a 68.4% increase in anti-trans hate crimes, 350% increase towards the LGBTQ community in groups (Prides, protests, bars, etc.), and a 25% increase towards gender nonconforming people. In general, an increase in hate crimes is not new for Los Angeles. In a separate study done by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, their 2021 Hate Crime Report showed that between 2020 and 2021, there was a 23% increase in hate crimes.

The escalation of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, recently, remains true in the city. During this Pride month, thousands protested The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Pride night for their inclusion and honoring of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag collective. While there were no incidents of hate crimes related to the protest, simply relying on the justification of hate crimes to quantify anti-LGBTQ action might be detrimental to the accuracy of treatment against the community.

Christy Mallory recommends viewing violence towards the LGBTQ community outside of the scope of hate crimes. Mallory is the Legal Director at the Williams Institute at UCLA’s school of law, a research organization focused on LGBTQ law and public policy.

“Oftentimes, motivated violence is not reported, and reports on hate crimes are kind of taken as not a full picture of what’s going on in terms of violence,” she tells Reckon, speculating on what factors might contribute to a lack of hate crime reporting. “Sometimes this is around perceptions that law enforcement won’t be responsive. Or maybe they feel like it wasn’t important enough to report to the police, or they had difficulty reporting things like this.”

Even allyship for the LGBTQ community prompted a perpetrator to shoot a store owner for having a rainbow Pride flag outside of her shop. An hour outside of Los Angeles at Lake Arrowhead, gunman Travis Ikeguchi killed local store owner Lauri Ann Carleton just last month.

“The rise in those legislative actions is coinciding with a rise in on the ground violence and hate motivated violence against LGBTQ people,” Mallory said. “State legislators are publicly endorsing policies that undermine LGBTQ people’s rights, and that may have a trickle-down effect and increased feelings of hostility towards LGBTQ people on the ground.”

Even if incidents and murders are not classified as hate crimes due to lack of evidence, disbelief on behalf of police or fear of reporting, the link between legislation and violence against LGBTQ people is clear.

Given that there is a correlation between hateful rhetoric from celebrities and politicians and hate crimes, Levin believes things will only intensify next year.

“Hate crimes have gone up in every election year,” Levin said. “Unfortunately, we’re at a time where the residents and citizens who are of the LGBTQ community and their rights to civil liberties, to public identity, to marriage, to be treated fairly, are under attack.”

The full 2023 Report to the Nation will soon be released by the California State University Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.