Human Rights Campaign

About the author: The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Americans. The campaign sponsors the National Coming Out Project.

A growing number of Americans are targeted by crimes motivated by real or perceived differences in sexual orientation. Today, the FBI claims that sexual orientation-based offenses are the third most commonly reported hate crimes. Often these attacks are especially brutal, intended to send a message to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities that "their kind" will not be tolerated. However, the federal government only investigates hate crimes involving race, color, religion, and national origin. Because hate crimes based on sexual orientation are a serious national problem, current hate crime laws need to be enhanced so that every hate crime victim...