Report shows more LGBT people killed so far in 2017 than in 2016
A report carried out by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has found that more LGBT+ people have been killed so far this year in the US than in 2016.
The report, which did not account for the Pulse massacre which took the lives of 49 people, recorded 33 hate-violence-related murders as of August 2017.
This is compared to 28 homicides of LGBT people (excluding Pulse victims) for the entirety of 2016.
One person every 13 days was killed in 2016 compared to one person every six days in 2017.
The NCAVP believe that the cause of the increase may be due to better identification of victims, but also an increase of violence against LGBT people.
Of the 33 killed so far this year, 16 of those were transgender folk.
Beverly Tillery, an executive director for the New York City Anti-Violence Project, who work with NCAVP, said that the figures should act as a “wake up call”.
“I think whether it’s an increase in reporting, an increase in violence, or some combination thereof, it should be a wake-up call for us across our communities that hate violence is not going away.
“It’s certainly not decreasing, and it’s symptomatic of larger and deeper problems in our society that we still haven’t addressed,” Tillery added.
The NCAVP came to the number through analysing media reports, organisations from across the country and information from friends and family as there is no official nationwide governmental data.
Dallas Drake, a senior researcher at the Center for Homicide Research, said that the number recorded by NCAVP was still likely under the real figure.
Drake said: “There are a lot more homicides of LGBT people than what they report.
“They don’t report generally from communities that are smaller or where cases are not easily identifiable as LGBT homicides.”
Kathy Flores, an LGBTQ anti-violence program manager for the Wisconsin advocacy group Diverse & Resilient added that the increase in violence against the LGBT+ community sent a clear message.
“I work with a number of survivors who have been attacked in their homes, outside their workplaces, in and outside of LGBTQ bars, in parks downtown, things like that. The message this sends to LGBTQ folks is clear: that we may not be safe anywhere,” she said.
