The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released its annual Hate Crime Report.  You can find the pdf at this link.  As a whole, bias-motivated crime is down in Tennessee from 2013 to 2014 by 2.6%.  But hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity were up 14.1%.

In part the rise can be explained by the TBI helpfully adding "Gender Non-conforming" as a category this year.  Here is the breakdown:

Gay 13 (number of incidents affecting this population)

Lesbian 4

Bisexual 2

Heterosexual 3

Transgender 1

Gender Non-conforming 9

Gays and Lesbians 16

The Tennessee Equality Project applauds the TBI for adding the gender non-conforming category so that we can better understand the patterns of violence against our community in Tennessee.  It is obvious that much work remains to be done to improve the climate of acceptance in our state. 

Getting help:  If you are the victim of a hate crime, get to safety and seek medical attention if necessary.  Then report the incident to local law enforcement.  If you find your case is not being taken seriously, please contact us at [email protected] .

For recent incidents of hateful rhetoric (not limited to hate crimes), go to the TEP's ongoing Tennessee Hate Report.