Astounding findings on anti-LGBTQ violence for 2009.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCVAP) just put out their annual report (pdf.) on violence against the LGBTQ community and the findings are scary. I took a look at the report myself and it seems that overall the reporting of violent crime is down. It is hard to get a sense of exactly how grave the situation is when we know that so much of the violence goes unreported, but if the numbers represent a trend then it is a frightening one.

Furthermore, there is a trend in communities of color who are afflicted with higher rates of violent crime against the LGBTQ community. Of the 22 murders last year 79% of them were people of color and 50% were transgender women. Waymon Hudson writes at Huffington Post,

As evidenced in this report, members of traditionally marginalized communities continue to be disproportionately targeted for severe violence. “These facts are deeply disturbing as these are the same people who are more likely to face discrimination, criminalization or further violence when interacting with criminal legal and social service systems. What we see is that they are less likely to seek and access support from these institutions,” said Maria Carolina Morales, Intervention Director of Community United Against Violence (CUAV) in San Francisco.

The report also covers other causes of crime such as reaction to hate crime legislation and decrease in services for GLBTQ communities due to current economic conditions. They also found that police misconduct towards GLBTQ folks was up from 2008 and this includes false arrests, harassment, entrapment and raids. And finally, that the majority of violent crime is committed by strangers which is just horrifying, as they are generally unpredictable but targeted acts of violence that are impossible to predict and difficult to protect yourself from.

Also, read Jos on why hate crime legislation doesn’t lead to a decrease in violent crime in the LGBTQ community.