In states with laws targeting LGBTQ issues, school hate crimes quadrupled (The Washington Post)
This is K12Leadrs’ summary… The source for this story is originally reported in the Washinton Post, by Laura Meckler, Hannah Natanson and John D. Harden. The original is freely available behind a paywall.
According to a Washington Post analysis of FBI data, hate crimes targeting LGBTQ+ people on school campuses have sharply risen in recent years, climbing fastest in states that have passed laws restricting LGBTQ+ student rights and education.
In the 28 states with restrictive LGBTQ+ laws, the average number of reported hate crimes was more than three times higher in 2021 and 2022 than from 2015 to 2019. Overall, there were an average of 108 anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes at schools reported per year from 2015-2019 on both college and K-12 campuses. In 2021 and 2022, that more than doubled to 232 on average per year.
The rise was even steeper when looking just at K-12 school campuses in restrictive states – increasing from an average of about 28 per year from 2015-2019 to an average of about 90 per year in 2021-2022, more than a quadrupling.
(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/24/lgbtq-students-hate-crimes-data/)
At the same time, calls to LGBTQ+ youth crisis hotlines have skyrocketed. The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention, received about 230,000 calls, texts and online chats in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, but over 500,000 the following year. Similarly, the Rainbow Youth Project saw calls rise from around 1,000 per month in 2022 to over 1,400 per month last year, with the top reason being anti-LGBTQ+ “political rhetoric.”
The Post cites examples like 17-year-old transgender student “Carden” in Virginia who faced harassment from classmates calling him slurs and telling him to die. Carden argues politicians’ anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has shaped adults’ views in his conservative county.
Another example is a transgender teenager in Mississippi whose mother said he faced regular harassment over his appearance, missed weeks of school from bullying-induced breakdowns, and had suicidal thoughts, which she partially attributed to the state’s ban on transgender students playing sports matching their gender identity.
Studies show LGBTQ+ youth are at particular risk. The CDC’s 2021 survey found over a third of gay, lesbian and bisexual students were bullied either on campus or online that year, compared to just 1 in 6 straight students.
Experts say the restrictive laws create a hostile environment and may make students more reluctant to report incidents in conservative states. Advocacy groups argue the laws send a message that LGBTQ+ students are unwanted.
However, the higher per capita rates in liberal states may reflect those places being more likely to report and have policies encouraging it, not necessarily more incidents occurring.
The article highlights the February death of non-binary student Nex Benedict in Oklahoma following an alleged bullying incident as drawing increased national attention. The Rainbow Youth Project saw a crush of calls from Oklahoma that month.
Oklahoma has enacted several laws restricting transgender rights in recent years and is considering further measures this year, which the state’s superintendent of schools supports to counter what he calls “radical gender theory.”
The Post obtained the hate crime data from the FBI’s database using the agency’s public API, filtered for anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes on school campuses. The data is voluntarily reported by law enforcement agencies. The Post also interviewed students, families, advocates and researchers nationwide to report on this alarming trend amid the ongoing wave of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ rights and expression in education.
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