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The history of violence against LGBT people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender individuals , legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. Those targeted by such violence are believed to violate heteronormative rules and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, statistics showing that violence among same-sex couples is more common than among than couples of the opposite sex.
The violence that has occurred over the existence of the LGBT community has been more extensive considering how long the incidents have occurred. Since the 1969 Stonewall riots against one of the many police raids on gay bars, there have been many more reports and instances of violence against LGBT people in the United States. Dozens of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals are murdered every year in the US, and the murder of black transgender women is especially prevalent. Attacks against LGBT people revolve around the idea that there is a normal way for people to live, which encompasses all expressions, desires, behaviors, and roles associated with the gender each person was assigned to at birth. Throughout time the number and statistics of these acts of violence have increased greatly due to the belief of religious and political views, or perhaps other factors as well. Political protests have been done to try and crackdown on more of these attacks with a greater penalty.
A hate crime is defined as the victimization of individuals because of their actual or perceived race, ethnicity or national origin, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity or disability. Hate crimes against LGBTQIA people often occur because the perpetrators are homophobic or transphobic. Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be psychological and physical up to and including murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases. Victims of violence who are both LGBT and a person of color may have trouble distinguishing whether the violence was based on their sexuality/gender identity or whether racism also played a significant factor. An intersectional approach would examine how these forms of discrimination combine in unique ways.
The United States has passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act , in order to develop a systematic approach for documenting and understanding hate crimes against LGBT people in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also implemented a data collection program and integrated the system under their Uniform Crime Reporting program and National Incident-Based Reporting System.