Hate Violence against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual ... - AVP

Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-affected Communities in the U.S. in 2011NCAVPINTRODUCTIONThe 2011 LGBTQH hate violence report highlights annual and multi-year trendsgrounded in contemporary research to give policymakers, LGBTQH communities,and anti-violence practitioners a wide-ranging viewpoint on the current dynamicsin homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic, hate violence. It represents the mostin-depth information to date on anti-LGBTQH hate violence available throughoutthe U.S. including: detailed demographic information on survivors and victims ofviolence, information on hate violence offenders, and data on police and medicalresponse to anti-LGBTQH incidents of violence.Comprehensive data on LGBTQH communities in the United States is extremelylimited making it challenging for NCAVP to compare its data on LGBTQHsurvivors to data on overall LGBTQH communities. The U.S. Census and theAmerican Community Survey, the main data collection surveys for the federalgovernment, and the National Crime Victimization Survey, the federal survey onviolence in the U.S., contain no questions on sexual orientation or gender identity.The only comparable data to NCAVP’s hate violence report is the ―Hate CrimeStatistics‖ report annually released by the FBI’s Criminal Justice InformationServices Division. This report documents hate crimes motivated by sexualorientation bias that local law enforcement agencies report to the FBI annually.The FBI is currently working to collect information on hate crimes motivated dataon bias based on gender identity in accordance with the Matthew Shepard JamesByrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, but this information is not currentlypublished. 3 While the FBI has not yet released the 2011 Hate Crime Statisticsreport, in 2010 NCAVP documented nearly 1,000 more survivors and victims ofhate violence than the FBI (1,528 survivors and victims compared to 2,503survivors and victims). 4 While the FBI tracks hate crimes and NCAVP tracks hateviolence including incidents that may not reported to law enforcement or that lawenforcement may not classify as a hate crime, NCAVP finds the stark differencebetween the numbers of incidents disconcerting.DEFINITIONS USED IN THISREPORTGender identity: A term thatdescribes to how an individualdescribes their gender. Aperson’s gender identity maybe different than social normsand/or stereotypes of the sexthey were assigned at birth.There are a wide range ofgender identities andexpressions, includingidentifying as a man, woman,identifying as neither, andidentifying as gender nonconforming.Gender non-conforming: Aterm that describes a personwhose gender expression isdifferent from the societalexpectations based on theirassigned sex at birth. Thisterm can refer to a person’sgender identity or gender roleand refers to someone whofalls outside or transcendswhat is considered to betraditional gender norms fortheir assigned sex.Sexual orientation: A termthat describes a person’sphysical or emotionalattraction to people of aspecific gender or multiplegenders. It is the culturallydefined set of meaningsthrough which peopledescribe their sexualattractions. Sexual orientationis not static and can shift overtime.3 FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division 2010 Hate Crimes Report. Accessed from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hatecrime/2010/tables/table-4-offenses-offense-type-by-bias-motivation-2010.xlson May 5, 2012.4 Ibid.13