For Austin Free Press, I did another analysis of GLAAD’s recently released hate incident data set, this time highlighting the disturbing incidents which have taken place in Central Texas over the last few years:
Murder, assault, bomb threats, and verbal threats were some of the worst anti-LGBTQ+ hate incidents occurring in the greater Austin area over the last three years, according to data that the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD documented as the basis for a recent report on such incidents nationwide. Austin Free Press used GLAAD’s Texas data to analyze incidents in the Austin area.
Even as violent crime falls nationwide, threats against the LGBTQ+ community are on the rise nationally, in Texas, and in Austin. In explaining that contradiction, experts say anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is helping to drive those trends.
“We’re seeing this really massive rise in anti-LGBTQ incidents all across the U.S.,” said Sarah Moore, GLAAD’s senior manager of news and research. Moore’s research shows that between Pride Month in June of 2023 and that same time this year incidents increased by 112% nationwide. In Texas, the increase was 44% during that period.
“There are really serious implications for LGBTQ communities in states where we’re seeing more severe restrictions from the legislative side,” Moore told Austin Free Press. “It also emboldens folks to go out and harass LGBTQ people, trans and gender non-conforming people within their own communities.”
The dozens of bills that Texas Republicans filed targeting LGBTQ+ people during the 2023 legislative session set a record, according to the nonprofit Equality Texas. According to that organization, many of the bills focused on undermining the rights of transgender youth and adults.
Those bills limited or banned gender-affirming health care for trans children. Other laws attacked the ability of students to receive diverse and inclusive education at public universities and barred college trans athletes from participating in school sports not tied to the sex they were assigned at birth. A law restricting drag shows was successfully challenged in court. More such bills are expected next year.
