The State of Pride Report presents detailed insights into DOJ’s latest initiatives to confront hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals. One significant initiative is the launch of the Office of Community Awareness, Response, and Engagement (CARE), and collaborating with community organizations and the public to proactively address hate crimes. The report emphasizes the efficacy of the Attorney General’s Hate Crime Rapid Response Protocol, which equips local law enforcement with the essential resources to efficiently handle significant hate crimes and extremism.

Key data points in the State of Pride Report depict the reality of hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals:

• About 2.7 million or 9.1% of California adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender — the largest share of any highly populated state and one that is “considerably higher” than the national figure of 7.9%.
• Unfortunately, in California between 2021 and 2022, there were over 391 reported hate crime events motivated by sexual orientation bias, and 45 hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender or anti-gender non-conforming bias.
• LGBTQ+ children have been victimized and bullied at rates four times higher than their non-LGBTQ+ peer groups. This hate has a compounding impact on their physical and mental well-being: Nearly half of all LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in 2022.
• Across the United States, 2022 was a record-breaking year for state-level, anti-LGBTQ+ bills, with more than 200 pieces of legislation introduced in over 40 state legislatures that aimed to codify discrimination in classrooms, sports, healthcare, and public spaces.
• Know Your Rights (pages 9-11):
  • “You have the right to disclose – or not disclose – your gender identity on your own terms, regardless of your age. Your school, whether public or private, doesn’t have the right to “out” you as LGBTQ+ to anyone without your permission, including your parents. Under the California and U.S. constitutions, you have a protected right to privacy, which includes the right to keep your sexual orientation, gender identity or that you are transgender private (what courts call a “reasonable expectation of privacy”). In other words, you have the right to control to what extent and to whom you disclose highly personal information about your sexual orientation or gender identity. This means that even if you are “out” about your sexual orientation or gender identity at school, if you’re not ‘out’ to your parents at home, and you can reasonably expect that they’re not going to find out, then school staff can’t tell your family that you are LGBTQ+ without your permission. Being open about your sexuality in school doesn’t mean you automatically give up your right to privacy outside school.
    However, under some limited circumstances your school can tell your parents something about your sexual orientation or gender identity—but only if they have a very good reason for doing so. It really depends on the circumstances. But they can’t do it just to punish you, harass you, discriminate against you, or retaliate against you for complaining about something. For example, if you complain to the principal about a teacher making or allowing anti-LGBTQ+ comments in class, they can’t then call your parents (or threaten to call them) and discuss anything about your actual or perceived sexual orientation. If your principal or teachers are threatening to “out” you to your parents and you need advice, give us a call. You should also explain your desire and your right to keep this information private.”

click here to download the full 2023 State of Pride Report