A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds LGBT people in the U.S. are five times more likely to experience violent victimization than non-LGBT people.
LGBT victims of violence are also more likely than non-LGBT people to face serious violence—such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated assault—and to suffer injuries because of these attacks.
Researchers analyzed pooled data from the 2022 and 2023 National Crime Victimization Survey, a nationally representative sample that documents experiences of victimization.
Results show LGBT people experienced 106.4 victimizations per 1,000 people, compared to 21.1 victimizations per 1,000 people for non-LGBT people. Transgender people experienced victimization at a rate of 93.7 per 1,000 people.
In addition, LGBT people (6.4 per 1,000 people) were nine times more likely to experience violent hate crimes than non-LGBT people (0.7 per 1,000).
“The Trump administration’s curtailment of civil rights protections for LGBT people in the United States, and the escalating anti-LGBT, and in particular anti-transgender, actions and rhetoric puts LGBT people at risk for increased victimization and hate crimes,” said lead author Ilan Meyer, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute.
When considering race/ethnicity, results show that Black (non-Hispanic) LGBT people have the highest rates of victimization overall, followed by Hispanic and White (non-Hispanic) LGBT people.
“These findings highlight the importance of collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity in the NCVS and other federal surveys,” said study author Andrew R. Flores, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Williams Institute. “With this data, policies and interventions can more effectively tackle the disparities faced by the LGBT community across a range of issues.”