Lexington guy’s delight flag was once burned. How commonplace are anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in Ky.?
A Lexington guy who aroused from sleep Monday and came upon his LGBTQ delight flag have been burned stated native police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.
So what does that imply in Kentucky?
Right here’s what you wish to have to find out about hate crimes within the commonwealth, the level of any criminal protections for the LGBTQ group and what lawmakers are doing (or no longer doing) to enlarge protections.
What number of hate crimes are reported in Kentucky?
Hate crime has been on the upward thrust in Kentucky just lately – in particular anti-Black hate crime.
In 2020, there was once a big spike, with regulation enforcement businesses reporting extra anti-Black hate crimes than they’d in any yr since 2010.
Information amassed by way of the Federal Bureau of Investigation point out the overwhelming majority fall into the extensively outlined class of race/ethnicity/ancestry with 134 instances documented in 2020.
Then again, bias motivation towards an individual’s sexual orientation is tied with faith as the second one maximum often reported class. Each classes noticed 18 instances reported in 2020, the most recent yr to be had.
The FBI best documented 3 Kentucky instances in 2020 the place an individual was once focused for his or her gender id, however hate crimes usually are often underreported as a result of the sufferer’s marginalized standing inside a given group.
What protections exist for LGBT Kentuckians?
The federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act permits the government to prosecute hate crimes, together with the ones in keeping with sexual orientation and gender id.
State regulations might also be offering an extra layer of coverage, taking into account state and native prosecutors to pursue alleged perpetrators, however regulations range state by way of state.
Kentucky’s hate crime regulation contains sexual orientation, however no longer an individual’s gender id.
In keeping with the FBI, maximum hate crimes are investigated by way of native regulation enforcement businesses and prosecuted by way of native district legal professionals’ places of work. Then again, in some instances hate crimes are investigated and prosecuted by way of the U.S. Division of Justice.
What have state lawmakers carried out to enlarge protections for LGBTQ folks?
In early March of this yr, a bipartisan team of Louisville-area lawmakers driven for Senate Invoice 275 to support Kentucky’s hate crime regulations.
The regulation is a perennial invoice born out of a 2018 racially motivated capturing wherein two Black other folks have been killed in Louisville.
However with Republican super-majorities within the Area and Senate, the invoice hasn’t moved and this yr seems to have died within the state Senate’s judiciary committee.
