Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes Up 24%

More fuel for the Matthew Shepard Act, sadly.

A report released Tuesday shows that violent attacks on members of the LGBT community nationwide grew by 24 percent in 2007 over the previous year. The 78-page report was prepared by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs with input from more than 30 of its members across the U.S. The number of incidents of anti-LGBT violence rose from 1,486 in 2006 to 1,833 in 2007, based on reporting from the exact same reporting regions as the year prior. Additionally, 2007 had the third highest murder rate in the past 10 years that NCAVP has been compiling the report with murders more than doubling from 10 in 2006 to 21 in 2007. LGBT people also reported a 61% increase in sexual assaults perpetrated as hate crimes. Part of the increase is attributed to an increase in the willingness of LGBT people to report hate crimes.

Have you ever been the victim of anti-gay hate crime?