Anti-gay hate crimes in the state of Michigan increased by 133 percent in 2007, from 97 incidents in 2006 to 226 in 2007, according to a report released by a state civil rights and advocacy group.
Sean Kosofsky, director of policy for the Triangle Foundation, whose report on anti-gay attacks, harassment and vandalism was released Tuesday, said that while the numbers are extreme, there is no telling if the increase was that steep.
The foundation collected the state data and the report was issued by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, or NCAVP.
“We hired more staff in the last year and opened a West Michigan office that is also doing intake,” Kosofsky said. “The office in West Michigan caught more incidents over there, so it’s really the reporting that went up. It’s hard to know if anti-gay crimes were that dramatic.”
The poor economy and the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling against domestic partner benefits also could have had some effect on the crimes, Kosofsky said.
“A hostile climate tends to produce violence,” he said.
“Whenever there is a lot of activity in the gay and lesbian community, we tend to see spikes like this.”
The FBI, which also conducts a survey of hate crimes, has not released its numbers for 2007. They reported 1,195 incidents of anti-gay hate crimes nationally in 2006, compared to 1,393 reported by the NCAVP.
“In general we get more reports than they do,” said Melissa Pope, director of victim services for the foundation.
“Part of that can be attributed to the added label or worry about coming out.”
Despite the increase in the state numbers, local officials said anti-gay hate crimes haven’t been a problem.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an incident come across my desk,” said East Lansing police Lt. Kevin Daley.
Mandi Rabe, president of People Respecting the Individuality of Students at MSU, or PRISM, the lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender student group in South Complex, said though physical crimes may not be common on campus, hate speech is a big problem.
“Walking around campus you hear more homophobic slurs and jokes,” she said. “I think hate speech can be just as harmful as hate crimes.”
Rabe, a political theory and constitutional democracy junior, said the university needs to do a better job of educating students of LBGT issues.
“The biggest thing is to first educate people about the issues with hate speech, then what they can do to help,” Rabe said.
People also don’t always know where to go to report crimes on campus, she said.
“It does need to be more available; people don’t always know where to go,” she said.
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