Hate Crime Laws and Sexual Orientation

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the term "hate crime" didn't enter the national vocabulary until the 1980s, when Skinheads and other groups committed a continual series of bias-based crimes. Hangings, lynching, vandalism and cross burning have been a method of intimidation and bias in the U.S. for some time. However, the FBI didn't begin investigating what we now call hate crimes until their first Ku Klux Klan case in 1924.

Most people think of hate crimes as being exclusively against persons based on race, ethnicity or gender, but hate-based crimes against gay, lesbians and transgender and bisexual people are equally rooted in our history and just as heinous.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. Legislature has passed a series of laws to help combat bias-based violence. Unfortunately, hate based offenses based on sexual orientation have increased since 1995 and there is still no federal statute that protects LGBT people. According to the About.com Guide to Crime and Punishment, "The federal hate crime laws do include the term 'sexual orientation.'" However, there is a proposed federal law called the Matthew Shepard Act which is pending approval.

On a local level, 45 states and the District of Columbia have anti-hate crime laws. And according to Human Rights Campaign, of those states with hate crime statutes, only 31 and the District of Columbia cover sexual orientation in their legislation.

States that include sexual orientation in their hate crime laws: Arizona (2003), Delaware (2001), Florida (2001), Illinois (2001), Iowa (2002), Kansas (2002), Kentucky (2001), Louisiana (2002), Maine (2001), Massachusetts (2002), Michigan (2002-data collection only), Nebraska (2002), Nevada (2001), New Hampshire (2002), New York (2002), Rhode Island (2001), Tennessee (2001), Texas (2002), Washington (2001) and Wisconsin (2002)

States that include sexual orientation and gender identity in their hate crime laws: California (1999), Colorado (2005), Connecticut (2004), District of Columbia (1989), Hawaii (2003), Maryland (2005), Minnesota (1993), Missouri (2001), New Jersey (2002/March 2008),New Mexico (2003), Oregon (2001/2008) and Vermont (2001)

States that do not have hate crime laws based on any bias: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming

The following are U.S. hate crime statistics collected by the FBI under The Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990:

2007: 1,460 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias were reported by law enforcement agencies. Of these offenses:

• 59.2 percent were classified as anti-male homosexual bias.
• 24.8 percent were reported as anti-homosexual bias.
• 12.6 percent were prompted by an anti-female homosexual bias.
• 1.8 percent were the result of an anti-heterosexual bias.
• 1.6 percent were classified as anti-bisexual bias.

2006: 1,415 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias were reported by law enforcement agencies. Of these offenses:

• 62.3 percent were classified as anti-male homosexual biased.
• 20.7 percent were classified as anti-homosexual biased.
• 13.6 percent were classified as anti-female homosexual biased.
• 2.0 percent were classified as anti-heterosexual biased.
• 1.5 percent were classified as anti-bisexual biased.
2005: 1,171 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias were reported by law enforcement agencies. Of these offenses:
• 60.9 percent were anti-male homosexual.
• 19.5 percent were anti-homosexual.
• 15.4 percent were anti-female homosexual.
• 2.0 percent were anti-heterosexual.
• 2.3 percent were anti-bisexual.
For more federal hate crime statistics, visit the FBI's Overview of Hate Crime Statistics.