LGBTQQ Pulling Stats out of Thin Air

Representative Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, has bipolar disorder.

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“LGBTQQ Pulling Stats out of Thin Air”

By Donna Garner

5.18.15

Surprisingly for a liberal newspaper, on 5.17.15 Politifact Texas (Austin American Statesman) ruled that Tex. Rep. Garnet Coleman’s statistics told to his fellow Texas legislators were “pulled out of thin air.”

In the terms used by Politifact — “PANTS ON FIRE”

Rep. Coleman was trying to get his HB 2059 passed when he stated:  “Transgender individuals in the U.S. have a 1-in-12 chance of being murdered. The average person has a 1-in-18,000 chance.”  5.17.15 – “Politifact: Transgender Murder Statistic Pulled out of Thin Air” – W. Gardner Selby — http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/politifact-transgender-murder-statistic-pulled-out/nmJDR/#00b94b52.3132234.735736

Coleman with HB 2059 was trying to get the words “gender identity or expression” inserted into the statute that indicates to judges or juries what should be considered a hate crime.  Thankfully HB 2059 was left pending in committee and evidently will not get to the floor of the House.

When challenged about his statistics, Rep. Coleman said he had gotten them from Equality Texas and from the Human Rights Campaign. Both of these groups advocate for the LGBTQQ lifestyle.

Okay…we get it.  Rep. Coleman, Equality Texas, and the Human Rights Campaign are spewing lies.  But what are the actual statistics of hate crime murders involving transgenders and others in the LGBTQQ community?

Most knowledgeable people utilize the FBI figures when they are writing about crime in the United States.

The latest complete statistics on hate crimes are shown in the FBI publication “2013 Hate Crime Statistics.” http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2013/topic-pages/incidents-and-offenses/incidentsandoffenses_final

Hate Crime Murders

Table 2 shows that only 5 hate-crime murders (murder and non–negligent manslaughter) occurred in 2013.  These were tallied as 5 victims, 5 incidents, 5 offenses.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2013/tables/2tabledatadecpdf/table_2_incidents_offenses_victims_and_known_offenders_by_offense_type_2013.xls

From Table 4, the following breakdown of the 5 hate-crime murders is given: 2 were for Sexual Orientation (2 anti-gay, male), 2 were for Race (1 anti-white, 1 anti-black), and 1 for Ethnicity (1 anti-Hispanic).  http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2013/tables/4tabledatadecpdf/table_4_offenses_offense_type_by_bias_motivation_2013.xls

Table 11 shows the States where the 5 hate crime murders took place; 1 murder was in Arkansas, 1 was in California, 1 was in Missouri, 2 murders were in New York, and 0 were in Texas. –  http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2013/tables/11tabledatadecpdf/table_11_offenses_offense_type_by_participating_state_2013.xls

Total U.S. population figures and total crime statistics are given by the FBI in Table 2 of “Crime in the United States 2013.”  http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/2tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_2_crime_in_the_united_states_by_community_type_2013.xls

From Table 2, murders (murders and non–negligent manslaughters) amounted to 14,196; this is 4.5 per 100,000 inhabitants. 

As shown in the FBI statistics, only 2 of the hate-crime murders were for sexual orientation (both were anti-gay male).  The 2 murders amount to 0.0006 murders per 100,000 people.

Clearly, there is not a problem with hate crimes for sexual orientation in this country.  State Rep. Coleman is trying to build a case where none exists (“mountain out of a mole hill”).

Donna Garner

Wgarner1@hot.rr.com