Hate Crimes Against Trans People Have Risen by a Third

A new report has found hate crimes against transgender people have risen by 32.1 percent over the last year.

Officials have attributed much of this to improvements in the systems of reporting, although that doesn’t explain the dramatic rise in transgender hate crimes compared to those based on sexual orientation and race.

The number of anti-transgender hate crimes rose from 1,248 in 2017 to 1,651 this year. The data also found that these hate crimes were far likelier to be violent in nature than any other hate crime category, and that six percent of these crimes were online offences.

“It is extremely alarming to learn that anti-transgender hate crime has increased by almost a third since last year, and almost doubled since 2015-16,” said a spokesperson for Gendered Intelligence.

“We feel that over the past year the mainstream media has contributed to a hostile environment for trans people, and trans women in particular, that may have emboldened those who have committed these crimes.

“Taking into account the huge number of race- and religion-related hate crime incidents, trans people of colour are particularly at risk.”