The Human Rights Campaign praises The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s report, Cause for Concern 2024: The Slate of Hate, outlining the steep increase of hate crimes during elections.

Based on statistics from the FBI and Department of Justice, the report reflects that since 2014, hate crimes have nearly doubled. This number is much higher in actuality as hate crimes are infamously underreported and police departments often fail to submit data.

Despite the woefully inadequate data, the trend is unmistakable: each of the last four presidential elections have seen a drastic increase in hate crimes, the majority of which were perpetuated by white supremacist groups. This atmosphere of heightened hate crimes leaves marginalized groups vulnerable as the 2024 election season approaches, creating a necessary cause for concern.

The report calls for a series of reforms to prevent a disastrous 2024 election season:

Social media platforms must enforce anti-hate and disinformation policies year-round, not just in election seasons.
Congress must address white supremacy without causing further harm or criminalization to Black and brown communities or other minority groups.
Congress must pass legislation mandating hate crime data collection and reporting.
Elected officials must speak out against hate.

HRC enthusiastically supports these reforms. Last year, Congress increased funding for hate crimes prevention, investigation and enforcement. It is critical that this funding continue in the next appropriations process, and more resources are needed. HRC is also urging Congress to mandate hate crime reporting.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund was founded in 1969 as the education and
research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the nation’s oldest and largest civil and human rights coalition of more than 230 national organizations. For more than five decades, The Education Fund has served as a force multiplier and has amplified the call for a just, inclusive, and fair democracy.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.