Repeat off

1

Repeat one

all

Repeat all

2025 was “one of the most dangerous years on record” for LGBTQ+ people in America
Photo #8671 February 02 2026, 08:15

A grim new report documents over a thousand attacks on LGBTQ+ people in the United States in 2025, following Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.

The report from ALERT Desk, GLAAD’s Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker, catalogues 1,042 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in 47 states and Washington, DC in 2025, a five percent increase over 984 incidents in 2024.

Related

Anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in the U.S. remain high even as overall crime decreases

The incidents included 128 acts of vandalism, 76 assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts.

Over half of the incidents targeted transgender and other gender non-conforming individuals, a 10% increase from 2024.

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

The report calls 2025 “one of the most dangerous years on record for LGBTQ Americans.”

“Americans should refuse to accept a country where our neighbors fear for their safety,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.

“With the ALERT Desk data showing an increase in violence against LGBTQ people, especially transgender Americans, we must join together in a united call against the violence and harassment that too many LGBTQ Americans face.”

Pride festivals, some of the most public displays of LGBTQ+ identity, were also the sites of dramatic increases in threats and violence.

There were 268 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in June 2025, many at parades and other Pride Month events. This marks a nearly 400 percent increase from just 54 incidents in June 2022, when GLAAD first began collecting data.

The country’s most populous state was also where the most incidents occurred: California logged 198 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents.

Texas saw 66 incidents, Ohio 50, and Washington State 50. Tiny New Hampshire was the site of the second-most-reported incidents: 72.

The report also noted a dramatic increase in anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the Los Angeles area.

GLAAD’s 2025 numbers follow an FBI report from August last year that logged a 49% increase in the number of offenses involving anti-gay male bias in 2024 versus 2023.

The large proportion of hate crimes directed at transgender people bears out research from the Williams Institute that consistently shows trans individuals are four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crime.

Among the hundreds of hate crime incidents in 2025, a gay man was shot and paralyzed in Florida,  a trans woman was brutally assaulted in Washington State, a gay man was attacked with a baseball bat and left to die in Boston, and a trans woman was shot in the chest and killed after she confronted a group of men catcalling her in Washington, DC.

The increased violence coincides with the Trump administration’s demonization of the LGBTQ+ community and attempted erasure of transgender identity in the United States and around the world.

“Instead of growing divides that lead to this violence,” GLAAD’s Ellis said, “politicians should recognize that all Americans deserve freedom, fairness, and safety.”

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.


Comments (0)