Too many hate crimes from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California. Los Angeles, School of Law.

12,084 That's the number of sexual orientation-related hate crimes reported nationally over the past decade. Compare that to 28,741 hate crimes against African-Americans, 10,198 against Jews, and 1,205 against Muslims. But each of those groups--unlike sexual minorities--is currently protected under federal law.

That may change in the new Democrat-controlled Congress. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would provide federal resources and assistance to local police when a hate crime based on sexual orientation or gender identity occurs. The bill already passed the House once but got stuck in the Senate in the last session. After the Democrats' sweeping victory last November, the bill now has a new lease on life.

If it becomes law, the act would mean especially good news for transgender people, since it would compel the FBI to collect statistics on hate crimes motivated by gender identity, a type of offense the agency doesn't currently track. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, on average there are 135 gender identity-based hate crimes in just 13 cities per year--as many as the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes reported annually nationwide.--M.V. Lee Badgett, research director