>ALARMING RATES OF HATE CRIMES REPORTED BY FBI
>
>Six murders were reported based on sexual orientation -
>the highest category followed closely by four murders based on race bias.
>
> According to the FBI report "Hate Crime Statistics | 2003," 8,715
>criminal offenses were identified as being motivated by hate. 1,430 of these
>offenses - or 16.4% - were crimes based on the victim's actual or perceived
>sexual orientation.
>The data also does not track crimes based on bias against
transgender people. November 20th marked the Sixth Annual Transgender Day
of Remembrance where our community mourned the loss of 21 transgender
individuals to hate violence over the past year.
>Brian Dauth
Have you checked this with the FBI's website? 6 murders is not exactly alarming. Amazingly low in a country with as many homophobic and violent citizens at the US. 1424 assaults? What is the current pop, 300M? These are tiny numbers. 21 transgender indivduals were murdered in 2003? That seems more realistic but not if the previous figures are accurate. I think you should check these numbers against the FBI's website. This doesn't look right to me.
John Thornton