Hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles County increased by 24 percent in one year, according to the first-ever annual Hate Incident Report from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR). There were 821 reported hate crimes in the county in 2023, with 40 of the 55 reported gender-motivated crimes targeting transgender individuals.
The new Hate Incident Report mirrors many of the findings in the 2023 Hate Crime Report but “provides a more comprehensive picture of hate activity in LA County,” the LACCHR said in a press release announcing the new report.
“Hate incidents can be just as traumatic for victims as hate crimes, and can perpetuate systemic inequality; so all of us must report them, not accept them as ‘normal,’” Robin Toma, LACCHR’s executive director, said in a statement. “Understanding hate incident data along with hate crime data is a crucial new dimension for effective prevention and intervention policies and action.”
Sexual orientation incidents increased by 24 percent, from 119 to 148 reported incidents and accounted for 17 percent of all reported hate incidents, making it “the third largest motivation for hate incidents.”
Gender-motivated crimes increased from 36 to 55, with 40 of the reported incidents targeting the transgender community.
Overall, half of the bias crimes were motivated by race, ethnicity, or national origin, with 434 in 2023 versus 392 in 2022, an increase of 11 percent.
“Hate crimes are violations of state and federal laws, and both hate crimes and hate incidents are serious breaches of international human rights standards,” Robert Sowell, LACCHR’s assistant executive director, said. “A central goal of the Hate Crime Report and the Hate Incident Report is to raise awareness about these human rights violations.”
You can read the entire Los Angeles County Hate Incident Report here.