Trans people, local governments and educators face rising anti-LGBTQ hate, GLAAD report finds
The report found a year-over-year increase in incidents targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming people, state and local governments, and educators and librarians. It also found a decrease in incidents targeting drag performers and pride symbols.
'This really goes toward showing these kinds of shifting tides in hate and what extremists like to focus on at the moment,' Sarah Moore, an analyst of anti-LGBTQ extremism at GLAAD, told NBC News. 'They really are kind of beholden to the new cycle of the day.'
This is the third year GLAAD has published an annual report based on its Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker. The 932 incidents tracked in this latest report occurred between May 1, 2024, and May 1, 2025. This is a 20% drop from last year's 1,173 incidents and an 80% increase from the 521 incidents tracked in its inaugural report in 2023.
GLAAD defines anti-LGBTQ incidents as both criminal and noncriminal 'acts of harassment, threats, vandalism, and assault motivated by anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism.' Incidents are tracked through self-reports, media reports, social media posts and data sharing from partner organizations and law enforcement and then validated by a team at GLAAD.
Moore cautions that the incidents tracked in the report are 'just a drop in the bucket in terms of what is actually happening when it comes to anti-LGBTQ hate.'
'This is more of a snapshot of what the lived experience of LGBTQ people is, as opposed to being an exact accurate representation of every incident of hate in the U.S.,' she said.
One of the most surprising findings from this year's report, Moore said, was the sharp decrease in incidents targeting drag performers, which dropped to 83 tracked incidents from 185 the year prior.
'This really goes to show the resilience of the drag community, and that we've seen them take all of these amazing steps toward protecting their own personal safety, protecting the safety of their audiences and working with community security organizations,' she said.
Coinciding with this decrease in anti-drag incidents is an increase in incidents targeting local and state governments and educators and librarians.
'We saw a number of our incidents, actually, going after city council officials, going after political candidates who are either LGBTQ or who support the community, going after legislators at the state level who are trying to protect or enshrine LGBTQ rights and going after educators and librarians that are offering safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in their classrooms and in their libraries as well,' Moore said.
Anti-LGBTQ incidents take place more frequently in June, according to the past two years of reporting by GLAAD's Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker.
'That is most likely attributed to the fact that June is Pride Month, and that's when we're going to have the biggest number of LGBTQ events and the most visible events,' Moore said. 'This June, for example, D.C. is holding WorldPride, which is going to be a really massive event and really massive showing of support for the LGBTQ community in the U.S. and globally.'
When asked if GLAAD has safety tips for those planning to attend Pride Month events this year, Moore noted that one of the hallmarks of the LGBTQ community is its 'resilience and strength.'
'This hate, unfortunately, is not new to us. We have been dealing with persecution, with oppression, with these acts of hate against our community for centuries,' she said, adding that the first Pride marches were protests held on the first anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising.
'So I think just really carrying on those legacies of pride as a form of protest, pride as a form of resistance, pride as a refusal to allow others to define us and to legislate our bodies and tell us that we have to be kept in private spaces and not display our true authentic selves to the rest of the world.'
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