Hate Crimes On A Steady Rise In The US

There were 6,121 reported hate crimes in the US in 2016, according to new FBI statistics. This is a 5% increase from 2015, making it the second year in a row hate crimes rose.
Furthermore, there were another 7,321 related offenses stemming from bias against race, religion, sexual orientation, and other traits.
The FBI gathered their information from 15,254 law enforcement agencies.

It is crucial to note, however, while this is the most comprehensive report of hate crimes, it is still incomplete. These incidents are due mostly to voluntary reporting from the various agencies. There is more of a focused effort on reporting these crimes in today’s political climate.
Of the 6,121 criminal incidents, a majority were driven by race and ethnicity.
57.5% were motivated by these factors, while 21% stemmed from religion, 17.7% from sexual orientation, and the remaining rates (all 2% or less) came from gender, gender identity, and disability.
There were 7,615 victims. A majority of the victims — 4,720 — were people and 2,813 happened to property.
In the FBI’s press release, the types of hate crimes were classified as intimidation (44.7%), simple assault (35.7%), and aggravated assault (18.5%).
Most of the property crimes (75.9%) were destruction/vandalism, while arson, robbery, and more accounted for the other 24.1%.

Hate crimes happened in a variety of locations. Most occurred in or near residences as well as roadways.
These numbers correlate with the NCAVP’s recent report. In those findings, the organization determined more LGBT people have died in hate-related homicides in 2017 so far than all of 2016.
The FBI further said hate crimes remain the number one priority for their civil rights unit.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions also doubled down on the importance of addressing hate crimes.

‘The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that individuals can live without fear of being a victim of violent crime based on who they are, what they believe, or how they worship,’ he said in response to the FBI’s report.

Despite what Jeff Sessions says, there are no cases being pursued or in litigation for anti-gay bias by the DOJ even though the number of crimes have increased significantly.
Sessions did order the DOJ (right before appearing before congress to testify on his omissions over the Russian probe) to pursue a case involving a trans woman's assault.
Just this year alone he has upped the DOJ's attack on gay rights:
10.6.17 - Attorney General Jeff Sessions issues a sweeping "religious exemptions" guidance which invites taxpayer-funded federal agencies, government employees, and government contractors to legally discriminate against LGBT employees as long as they cite a religious belief as the reason for doing it.
 9.7.17 - Attorney General Jeff Session files an amicus brief in support of so-called “religious exemptions” to discriminate against LGBT Americans.
7.26.17 - Attorney General Jeff Sessions files a brief opposing workplace nondiscrimination protections for the LGBT community under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the case Zarda v. Altitude Express.
4.14.17 - Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Justice Department withdraws lawsuit accusing North Carolina of discriminating against the LGBT community in response to HB2, despite the similarities of the HB142 replacement. 
This s just a short list and the attack more than doubles when you include transgender rights.