Excluding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people and people with disabilities from hate crimes laws sends a message that violence against members of those communities is okay. When someone harasses another person because of who they are, it sends a message to that person — and others like them — that they won’t be tolerated or accepted. As a result, the community is left feeling vulnerable, unsafe, and afraid.
Email the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee right now and ask them to add LGBTQ people and people with disabilities to our existing bias-motivated harassment law.
Hate crimes against LGBTQ people are a pervasive problem. Anti-LGBTQ hate crimes are the third most frequent kind of hate crimes in America after race and religion. The FBI’s report on hate crimes found that, out of 7,722 incidents, 52% were based on the victim’s race, 19% on religion, 16% on sexual orientation, and 13% on ethnicity or national origin.
Additionally, 1% of all reported incidents were based on the victim being a person with a disability. Bias against people with disabilities takes many forms, often resulting in discriminatory actions in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
