Findings confirm the roles of institutional heterosexism and discursive opportunities in producing hate crimes.Īmerican debates balancing individual liberty against majority will are as old as the formation of the country. These results provide some of the first quantitative evidence that public policies affect hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Because incidence is spatially correlated, policy changes in one state yield spillover benefits in other states. Partnership recognition increases reported hate crimes, though it may not increase actual crime incidence. Hate crime and employment non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation reduce hate crime incidence. Using annual panel data from 2000 to 2012, a period of substantial policy change, we analyze how three state policies affect reported hate crimes: same-sex partnerships, employment non-discrimination, and hate crime laws.
Legal equality, however, will reduce violence. Do public policies on gay and lesbian rights affect the incidence of hate crimes based on sexual orientation? We propose that legal inequalities increase hate crimes because they provide discursive opportunities for bias, discrimination, and violence.
