GLAAD blames ‘anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from elected officials’ for hate crime rise in US
Decal reading “Trumps Hate” and another reading “Lavender Scared”, referencing the Lavender Scare anti-LGBT movement of the 1950s, in Berkeley California (Getty)
A shocking number of daily hate crime incidents across the US in 2024 have been revealed in a new GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) report.
The LGBTQ+ media advocacy organisation has released the latest metrics about anti-LGBTQ+ hate in 2024, gathered by its extremism reporting tracker, the ALERT Desk.
Throughout 2024 the desk recorded at least 918 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents across the US, which is the equivalent of two and a half hate crime incidents every day.
Included in the incidents were more than 260 protests, 140 bomb threats, the same number of vandalism acts and 85 assaults.
At least 90 injuries and seven deaths were recorded from acts of violence motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hate, while a concerning 447 incidents directly targeted the trans, non-binary and gender non-confirming community.
GLAAD previously reported, in October 2024, that the ALERT Desk tracked over 1,850 anti-LGBTQ incidents in the US, corresponding with a 112% increase in anti-LGBTQ hate from June 2022 – June 2024.
‘Ultimately unsurprising’
The ALERT Desk further reported a spike in education-related anti-LGBTQ+ incidents during 2024, with 216 incidences of violence and harassment against the sector’s workers over their support for LGBTQ+ people.
GLAAD’s president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called the hate crime findings “shocking”, but added that they are “ultimately unsurprising as anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric rise, including from elected officials and social media platforms.”
She added: “Words, proposals, and actions have consequences in the real world on real human beings, even as support for LGBTQ+ people and youth remains at supermajority levels. Together, we must push for a world that not only protects LGBTQ+ people from harm, but also uplifts and embraces our voices.”
In September last year, data from the FBI revealed that hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people had continued to rise.
Information shared on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer on showed that hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity rose by almost a quarter on the previous year.
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