June 2, 2014
Report: NYC Anti-Gay Attacks Up 26% in 2013
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Anti-gay attacks in New York City rose a shocking 26 percent in 2013, according to a report by the Anti-Violence project.
The organization found that 594 people in New York City reported attacks because of their sexual identity in 2013. In 2012, 470 people reported similar attacks. According to DNAinfo, the numbers are based on a combination of attacks reported in the media and people who reported the attacks to AVP.
The report also found attacks against transgender and gender non-conforming people rose by 21 percent.
AVP officials say anti-gay attacks in New York City have been on the rise for the last four years and that the increase last year was the largest jump they've seen.
DNAinfo reports that the New York Police Department reported 29 anti-gay attacks in the city last year. In 2012 there were just 14 reports. AVP says the NYPD's numbers are always lower than theirs, however.
AVP's executive director Sharron Staple says their numbers may be "a reflection of the enhanced accuracy in reporting, as well as the fact that we are reaching more New Yorkers with our message of safety for LGBTQ and HIV-affected people," and not an increase of violence.
A number of anti-gay attacks made headlines last year, including the murders of Mark Carson, a gay man who was killed in Greenwich Village in May, Islan Nettles, a transgender woman killed in Harlem in August and Ever Orozco, who was killed in September after his alleged killer thought he was gay.
All of the murder victims were people of color.
"In each of these cases, AVP responded by working very closely with community members and other community-based organizations to ensure that those most disproportionately impacted by this violence, especially transgender and gender non-conforming people and people of color, were leading the LGBTQ anti-violence work in New York City," Chanel Lopez, a hate violence counselor with AVP, said in a statement via DNAinfo.
A report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs says the number of reported anti-gay attacks in 2013 was down by 1 percent when compared to 2012.
