The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs just released its new study from data collected in 2010. The coalition works to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV affected communities. Not surprising is that the study found transgender people and LGBT people of color were disproportionately impacted by violence.
Other key items people need to know that the study revealed were: Violence that was reported (the key word being reported) against the LGBT community increased by 13% from 2009 to 2010. Murders committed against the LGBT community increased by 23%; 70% of those murdered were LGBT people of color. 50.1% of survivors did not report attacks to the police and transgender women were the least likely to report to police. The largest population of survivors of violence were gay men–48.4%.
The most impacted identities were:
People who identified as either transgender or people of color were 2 times as likely to experience assault or discrimination as non-transgender white individuals. People who identified as transgender people or people of color were 1.5 times more likely to experience intimidation than non-transgender white individuals.
People who identified as both transgender and people of color were almost 2.5 times more likely to experience discrimination than non-transgender white individuals. Transgender people of color were 2 times as likely to experience intimidation as non-transgender white individuals.
Transgender people represented a higher proportion of hate violence survivors with injuries: Transgender survivors experienced higher rates of serious injuries (11.8%) as compared to non-transgender men (6.2%) or non-transgender women (1.3%).
The report does a marvelous job of showing how people who are gender non-conforming (including our heterosexual brothers and sisters) are at high risk for violent attacks. For me, the take away is, we need to look at how we very narrowly define masculinity. As one can see, we have a long way to go in eradicating homophobia and transphobia, which I believe are both deeply rooted in misogyny. One cannot overlook how connected racism is to issues around the LGBT community. I am not on a crusade to get people to embrace those of us within the LGBT community. I am, however, on a crusade to stop the violence against our community and to promote granting us our civil rights. Click hereto see the full report and the recommendations made.