Brief
UPDATE | Fact Sheet: Anti-LGBT+ Mobilization on the Rise in the United States
A comprehensive update on the rise of anti-LGBT+ mobilization and violence in the US, with statistical insights and detailed analysis.
Key Trends
- Anti-LGBT+ mobilization — including demonstrations, political violence, and offline propaganda activity — has risen to its highest levels since ACLED started collecting data for the United States in 2020
- Nearly 200 anti-LGBT+ incidents have been reported so far this year, marking an increase of three times compared to 2021 and 12 times compared to 20201
- Acts of political violence targeting the LGBT+ community have more than tripled compared to 2021
- Anti-LGBT+ demonstrations have more than doubled relative to 2021
- Far-right militias and militant social movements like the Proud Boys have ramped up their engagement in anti-LGBT+ demonstrations by over three times this year compared to 2021
This is an update to a fact sheet published in June 2022 covering the initial escalation of anti-LGBT+ activity going into Pride Month. ACLED is a living dataset, so figures are subject to change as more or better information becomes available.
Overview
Amid a wave of legislation and violent rhetoric targeting the LGBT+ community in the lead-up to the midterm elections (Bloomberg, 21 November 2022), anti-LGBT+ activity has surged around the United States, culminating most recently in a deadly shooting at an LGBT+ club in Colorado that is under investigation as a hate crime.2 Anti-LGBT+ incidents captured by ACLED — including demonstrations, acts of political violence, and the distribution of offline propaganda3 — have more than tripled from 64 events in 2021 to 193 events in 2022 as of mid-November4 (see graph below).5
This graph displays total event counts per full month (partial data for November 2022 omitted).
Anti-LGBT+ Political Violence
Research shows that members of the LGBT+ community face higher risks of interpersonal violence and violent crime relative to the non-LGBT+ population (Human Rights Campaign, 25 June 2020; UCLA Williams Institute, 2 October 2020), and ACLED data indicate that the LGBT+ community is also at heightened risk of political violence, defined as serious physical manifestations of violence that are reported to be politically rather than interpersonally motivated.6 This subset includes attacks by spontaneous, violent mobs; law enforcement; and/or or extremist individuals or groups.7
As right-wing politicians and media outlets have increasingly mainstreamed the use of anti-LGBT+ hate speech in the United States (Washington Post, 21 November 2022; Media Matters, 21 November 2022), anti-LGBT+ political violence has escalated: incidents of political violence targeting the LGBT+ community this year have already more than tripled compared to the total number of attacks recorded last year, with at least 22 reported events.
Anti-LGBT+ Demonstrations
Demonstration activity accounts for the majority — 74% — of anti-LGBT+ mobilization this year, with over twice as many anti-LGBT+ demonstrations reported so far compared to last year (142 demonstrations in 2022, up from 56 in 2021), which itself saw an increase of over nine times compared to the previous year (six demonstrations reported in 2020). Most of this year’s demonstrations have taken place in California (22 events), Texas (17 events), Florida (nine events), and Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, and Illinois (seven events each).8 This tally does not include pro-LGBT+ events that were canceled or delayed and not yet held as a result of threats of counter-demonstrations or violence from anti-LGBT+ extremists (TIME, 16 June 2022).9
Far-Right Engagement in Anti-LGBT+ Activity
While coordinated organizing against the LGBT+ community has not been a primary driver of far-right militia and militant social movement activity in recent years, this pattern has changed significantly in 2022 (see graph below).10 Far-right militias and militant social movements like the Proud Boys and Patriot Front have increased their engagement in anti-LGBT+ demonstrations by over three times this year, from 16 events in 2021 to 52 events as of mid-November 2022. This is a dangerous trend: demonstrations are over four times more likely to turn violent and/or destructive when far-right militias or militant social movements are involved.
This graph displays the percentage of activity per month (including partial data for November 2022).
A US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2014, ACLED is the highest quality and most widely used real-time data and analysis source on political violence and demonstrations around the world.
If you would like to use ACLED data and analysis, please review our Terms of Use & Attribution Policy. For more information about ACLED methodology, please check our Resource Library.
For media inquiries, please contact: Sam Jones, ACLED Head of Communications
Footnotes
- 1
Overall anti-LGBT+ activity increased by more than four times from 2020 to 2021.
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- 5
The graph includes data from January 2020 through October 2022; though publicly available, data from 1-18 November 2022 are not included, as the graph depicts event counts by full month, so a partial month’s coverage would skew graphic trends.
- 6
- 7
As indicated above, it is important to note that political violence only represents a small subset of the many types of violence faced by the LGBT+ community.
- 8
Since 2020, most anti-LGBT+ demonstrations have taken place in California (33 events), Texas (24 events), Florida (15 events), Oregon (11 events), and Pennsylvania (10 events).
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- 10
The graph shows monthly data, but it depicts proportional representation rather than total event counts, so graphic trends are not skewed by the inclusion of a half month’s data for November 2022.
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