New York – Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released statistics on hate crimes across the nation. The data contains information on 7,722 hate crimes submitted by local law enforcement agencies across the nation.The report included information on 1,195 incidents in which the perpetrators’ motivating factor was thevictims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation an 18% increase in such incidents from the FBI's 2005 report. The proportion of all hate crimes of all types that were motivated by actual or perceived sexual orientation was 15%, up only a small margin from the 14% of incidents that were so motivated by sexual orientation in 2005.  more

New York – The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), an LGBT-specific network of community-based organizations, released its Annual Report on Domestic Violence within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities in the United States. The 43 page report compiled by the New York -based coalition includes data regarding over 3,000 individuals who experienced domestic violence. Fourteen of 33 NCAVP member programs contributed to this year’s report. Participating regions include Tucson, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Colorado, Chicago, IL, Massachusetts, Minnesota; Kansas City, MO, New York, NY, Columbus, OH, Pennsylvania, and Houston, TX. There were 3,534 reported incidents of domestic violence affecting LGBT individuals in 2006, a decrease of 15% over incidents recorded in the 2005 report. However, this decrease does not necessarily indicate that LGBT domestic violence is declining. Numerous factors influence whether or not a victim of domestic violence will seek help through an organization or a hotline, including visibility of the local organization, fears on the part of the victim of being “outed,” and fear of bringing shame to ones family or community. Additionally, individual organizational capacity and ability to participate in this report shift somewhat from year to year which could also account for the numerical difference. more

New York – Today, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) and fifteen of its members across the country released their annual report on violence against lesbians, gay men, bisexual people and transgender individuals. The 70-page report examines data compiled from almost 1,500 hate-related incidents in twelve cities, states and regions across the country including: the Chicago area, Columbus, Ohio, Colorado, Houston, Texas, Kansas City, Missouri, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, the New York City area, Pennsylvania, the San Francisco Bay area, and Vermont. Additional information was included from Long Island, New York, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Tucson, Arizona.
 
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New York – Every day, members of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) work to eliminate hate motivated violence from the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. LGBT communities are continually reminded of their inability to simply exist in safety. The open and virulent hostility that pervades our lives impacts us on a multitude of levels and must be addressed. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (LLEHCPA) which was passed today by the US House of Representatives is a significant step forward in our long struggle to ensure the safety of LGBT people across the nation. NCAVP extends its heartfelt appreciation to US Representatives John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Mark Kirk (D-Ill.) for their support as chief sponsors of this bill. The LLEHCPA will allow the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute anti-LGBT bias motivated violence. Importantly, the bill also eliminates the current restriction that victims of hate motivated violence must be engaged in a federally protected act such as voting. more

New York – The four men who brutally beat singer, performer and Gay community icon, Kevin Aviance on an East Village street this past June while yelling anti-gay epithets pleaded guilty yesterday to charges related to the attack. The four: Akino George, Gregory Archie, Jarell Sears and Gerard Johnson had earlier admitted to the attack on Aviance. According to police, the four began following Aviance around 1:30AM on June 10, and called him derogatory names. They threw two garbage bags and a paint can at the singer before attacking him, police said. more