FBI: increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation

As a bill to protect LGBT people from bias-motivated crimes stalls in the U.S. Senate, a new FBI report documents a rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2006.

The FBI study, released Nov. 19, shows that hate crimes based on sexual orientation comprised 15.5 percent of all hate crimes recorded by the FBI in 2006, up from 14 percent in 2005. Overall, the agency recorded 7722 hate crime incidents involving 9080 offenses last year; more than half were based on race. Of the 1415 recorded hate crimes based on sexual orientation, 62.3 percent were classified as "anti-male homosexual biased," 20.7 percent were classified as "anti-homosexual biased" and 13.6 percent were classified as "anti-female homosexual biased." Two percent were classified as "anti-heterosexual biased" and 1.5 percent were classified as "anti-bisexual biased."

The data were collected from law enforcement agencies nationwide as part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The agency does not report on hate crimes based on gender identity.

The report comes as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHA), which passed the U.S. House, is stalled in the Senate. The bill, which would give the federal government jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violent crimes based on a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability and provides assistance to local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence, is attached to the Department of Defense Authorization bill, an effort to circumvent a veto by President George W. Bush. According to the Washington Blade, some pro-gay House Democrats have signaled they will vote against the bill because of its provisions supporting Bush's efforts to continue the Iraq War. Meanwhile, according to the Blade, conservative Republicans and Democrats in the House who voted against LLEHA in May have threatened to vote against the defense bill unless the hate crimes provisions are removed. The defense bill is not expected to be taken up again until after Thanksgiving.

In a Nov. 19 statement on the FBI report, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a cosponsor of the hate crimes bill, observed that the increase in hate crimes "may be the tip of the iceberg, since many state and local jurisdictions don't participate in the data collection.

"We obviously need to strengthen the existing federal hate crimes law," said the Massachusetts Democrat. "A provision to do just that was included in the Senate version of the Defense Authorization, and hopefully the FBI report will persuade the House to accept it. It's essential to send a strong message here at home and around the world that our country will not tolerate crimes fueled by hate."

Rachel Balick, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign said the report serves to remind congressional leaders and the president that hate crimes against gay people are "a growing problem." Said Balick, "This report shows that. We hope that people will look at that and say, this is something that needs to be addressed legislatively."