Report: Gays “By Far, The Most Victimized By Violent Hate Crimes”
The FBI’s 2009 Hate Crime Statistics report was released today, and shows that “a pattern that has existed since the FBI started tallying these numbers remains,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC,) which states, “the LGBT community is, by far, the most victimized by violent hate crimes (attacks against people as opposed to property).”
The FBI report notes that blacks, Jews, gays and Hispanics were the most-targeted bias crime groups. (And I would like to tell Maggie Gallagher and Michelle Malkin, especially, that the FBI reports only 1.4% of all sexual-orientation bias crimes were “because of an anti-heterosexual bias.”)
The SPLC report continues with these disturbing facts:
“The 2009 FBI numbers show that the LGBT community suffers from violent hate crimes at levels that are more than eight times their percentage in the population. Analyzing the FBI data from 1995 to 2008, the Report found that gays are 2.6 times more likely to be attacked than blacks; 4.4 times more likely than Muslims; 13.8 times more likely than Latinos; and 41.5 times more likely than whites. The basic pattern holds true when looking at individual years.”
‘These findings come as a wave of anti-gay attacks have washed across the country. In New York, for example, 10 suspects were arrested for brutally torturing three gay victims. And in Covington, Ky., a neighborhood was hit by a series of violent anti-gay attacks. Most dramatically, four teenagers committed suicide in September after being bullied, taunted or outed as homosexuals.”
“The new issue of the Report also explores how the hard-core anti-gay movement in America is becoming more extreme in the face of gay rights advances. Even after the recent string of teen suicides, which brought national attention to the issue of anti-gay bullying, leaders of these groups blamed those seeking to protect students from bullying.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center is also in the process of adding several anti-gay organizations to its hate groups list. (See also: “A Mighty Army.”) Here is their list of eighteen anti-gay organizations. (Note: Only those marked with an asterisk currently meet SPLC’s definition of a hate group. The newcomers are marked in bold.)
Abiding Truth Ministries
American Family Association*
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality*
American Vision*
Chalcedon Foundation*
Christian Anti-Defamation Commission
Concerned Women for America
Coral Ridge Ministries
Dove World Outreach Center
Faithful Word Baptist Church
Family Research Council*
Family Research Institute*
Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment
Illinois Family Institute*
Liberty Counsel
MassResistance
National Organization for Marriage
Traditional Values Coalition
Surely, since Americans now accept the fact that LGBT teen suicides are the result of bullying, and bullying by organizations as well as people, we’ll be in a better place to stop these organizations from operating? Right? Um, won’t we?…
Take a look at what our friends at Truth Wins Out have to say about this new report.
The New Civil Rights Movement
// <![CDATA[
google_ad_client = “pub-6759057198693805”; /* 468×60, created 10/21/10 */ google_ad_slot = “8507588931”; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60;
// ]]>
Enjoy this piece?
… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.
NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.
Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.