Report Cites More Than 350 Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Incidents Over 11 Months - New York Times

There were more than 350 incidents of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States from June 2022 through April 2023, according to a new report, reflecting a climate in which bias against gay and especially transgender people has become widespread.

The incidents, which were reported in 46 states and the District of Columbia, included online harassment, gatherings of armed protesters outside drag shows, and bomb threats against hospitals that provide gender transition care. They also included the mass shooting in November at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado.

The report was produced by the Anti-Defamation League and the L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group GLAAD, which collected data from news coverage as well as direct reports from victims. As with other attempts to quantify attacks on marginalized groups, the numbers in the report are certain to be undercounts, because many people don’t report their experiences.

By far the most frequent targets noted in the report were drag shows and drag performers, who were the victims in 138 incidents. Other common targets were schools and educators, health care facilities and providers, and government buildings and officials. California, Florida, New York and Texas had the most incidents, but they are also the most populous states.

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Because this is the first such report, it does not show how the prevalence of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment and violence has changed over time. But there are indications that they are increasing: As of Tuesday, A.D.L. and GLAAD had documented 101 such incidents in the first three weeks of June, which is Pride Month. That is more than twice the number the organizations counted from last June.

An upcoming report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino shows a 52 percent increase in anti-L.G.B.T.Q. hate crimes around the country in 2022 and a 28 percent increase in the narrower anti-transgender category, according to the center’s director, Prof. Brian Levin.

It also shows a 47 percent increase in hate crimes against gender-nonconforming people, which the report defines as including drag performers.

That report looks only at incidents in major cities and focuses specifically on hate crimes. By contrast, not all of the incidents in the A.D.L. and GLAAD report would be classified as crimes.

Nearly half of the incidents in the report from A.D.L. and GLAAD involved perpetrators associated with extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys or neo-Nazi organizations. And the report found significant overlap with other forms of bias: Of the 356 anti-L.G.B.T.Q. incidents it counted, antisemitism was also a factor in 128, and racism in 30.

But [an analyst of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. extremism for both organizations, Sarah] Moore said it was also striking that half of the incidents were unconnected to extremist groups. That finding, she said, reflects the degree to which anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiment is “being mainstreamed in society and being picked up on by local church groups, local parents’ rights groups, whatever might be the local grass-roots movement for the Republican Party.”

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