Hate crimes exploded to record levels in Los Angeles County last year, with gay men and the trans community suffering significant increases in violent assaults. The numbers were cataloged in the 2023 L.A. County Hate Crime Report from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR). Overall, 1,350 hate crimes were reported in 2023, an increase of 45 percent from 930 in 2022.
Reported hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community rose to 256 last year, an increase of 45 percent from the 173 reported in 2022. Gay men suffered 186 reported hate crimes, or 73 percent of these crimes targeting the LGBTQ+ community, and 83 percent of those crimes were violent.
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However, those numbers do not include gender-based hate crimes targeting the transgender community. The report catalogs 99 hate crimes targeting trans individuals, an increase of 125 percent from 2022. Just as disturbing, 97 percent of those anti-trans hate crimes were violent assaults.
“This report is grim. The hate crimes detailed in it are serious. Many of them are violent. They leave victims across the county permanently, even if not visibly, scarred. They shatter the sense of safety these individuals had and, in many cases, destroy it for their families and communities as well,” Supervisor Janice Hahn, Fourth District, said in a press release.
2023 LA Hate Crime and Data Analytics Team
The report included specific examples of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.
In January, a gay man was accosted in Hollywood by a man who said, “I have a firearm. All you f*gg*ts should die. The world would be a better place without you.”
In February a Latino male victim was the victim of an unprovoked attack on a train.
“You f*gg*t, long-haired f*gg*t,” the suspect reportedly yelled before punching the victim in the back of the head with brass knuckles. “I am going to knock you out, long-haired f*gg*t.”
Also in February, a transgender woman was getting off the Metro when a suspect attempted to assault her, yelling, “You should be in hell. You should not be living. You should die! You should not be a man trying or pretending to be a woman!” The victim was able to escape the attack.
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While the numbers are discouraging, officials say the increase can be partially connected to LAvsHate.org, the new online hate crime reporting system.
“Although the numbers reported today are unprecedented for multiple communities throughout LA County, they signal that more people are coming forward to report hate crimes and are refusing to accept the normalization of hate,” Helen Chin, president of the LA County Commission on Human Relations, said in a press release.
“It’s critical to recognize that the growth in reported hate crimes is partly due to the success of our LA vs Hate system, which urges every victim of hate crime to report to us and gain free services and support,” Robin Toma, executive director of the Commission on Human Relations, said in a press release. “Connecting with more people and their communities who refuse to remain silent by reporting hate, and building intergroup solidarity, is an essential part of our strategy for ending hate.”
You can read the entire 2023 Hate Crime Report here. You can find more information on the LA vs Hate initiative, including shareable graphics ready-made for social media, here.
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