Reported anti-Jewish and anti-LGBTQ bias crimes jumped in 2022 amid an overall increase in hate crimes, finds an Axios review of new FBI data. The rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes came as the Center for Countering Digital Hate found bigoted speech had surged on X since Elon Musk's takeover and Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, repeatedly posted antisemitic messages on social media. The spike in anti-LGBTQ bias crimes coincided with book bans targeting LGBTQ authors. The number of anti-Jewish hate crimes jumped 36% in 2022 from the previous year. Anti-LGBTQ bias crimes rose 19% and anti-gay hate crimes involving just gay men increased 13%. Anti-Latino hate crimes went up 6%, and anti-Black bias crimes edged up 4%. Anti-Asian hate crimes fell dramatically — 34% — as fears over the pandemic subsided.
"The rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community is both shocking and heartbreaking, yet sadly, not unexpected," said the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. The group said a "constant stream of hostile rhetoric from fringe anti-equality figures" is leading to more violence against LGBTQ people. The FBI reported a 6.9% increase in hate crimes from 2021 to 2022. More law enforcement agencies reported those crimes to the FBI. The top reported bias crimes in 2022 were anti-Black for race/ethnicity/ancestry bias, anti-Jewish for religious bias, and anti-gay (male) for sexual orientation bias. Law eforcement agencies reported more than 3,400 anti-Black hate crimes in 2022 — the largest of any category. The jump comes as X has become significantly more toxic since Elon Musk's takeover, having loosened some limits on hate speech. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University says the FBI report still has significant holes because some states, including Florida, do a poor job at collecting stats. Levin said anti-Jewish hate crimes have increased dramatically after each news-dominating Middle East conflict in the past 30 years. He worries that anti-Jewish bias crimes will jump even more because of fighting in Israel and Gaza.