Dec. 17, 2007 - The Gill Foundation recently pledged a $20,000 matching grant to benefit gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Over the next year, the CU Foundation will raise funds to match the gift.
The CU-Boulder GLBT Resource Center and the LGBT Studies Certificate Program will benefit from the funding. The resource center, an advocate for the universitys GLBT community, provides information and referral services as well as educational, cultural and social programs. The Gill grant will support the centers operating costs and outreach activities. Grant money also will be added to the LGBT Studies Certificate Program, an interdisciplinary collaboration.
To match the Gill grant, donors may choose to benefit any of the myriad GLBT programs at CU-Boulder.
The Gill Foundation is proud to support the University of Colorados comprehensive effort to engage lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students and community members. The education and dialogue that is initiated through this program is helping advance equality through understanding, said foundation spokeswoman Julie Voyles.
The Denver-based Gill Foundation is the nation's largest funder focusing primarily on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights. This years grant is the foundations second to CU-Boulder. Last year, the foundation pledged $25,000 in funds, which the CU Foundation matched with $27,000.
For more information on how to support GLBT programs at CU-Boulder, visit www.colorado.edu/glbtrc.
Colorado Follows National Trend with an Increase in Reported Incidents
New York, Nov. 19, 2007 — Reacting to the release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) report on hate crimes in 2006, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called it a "disturbing documentation of the hate crime problem in America."ADL urged Congress and the President to enact pending legislation that will assist state and local law enforcement in prosecuting hate crimes.
The 2006 FBI hate crime data, collected under the mandate of the 1990 Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA), documented 7,722 hate crimes in 2006 — 8 percent more than the 7,163 hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2005.The report documented over 1,462 religion-based crimes more than 66 percent directed against Jews and Jewish institutions.
In 2006, 12,620 law enforcement agencies in the United States participated in this data collection effort, compared to 12,417 in 2005. Yet, only 16.7% of participating agencies reported even a single hate crime — and almost 5,000 police departments across the country did not participate in the FBI reporting program at all.
In Colorado, total hate crime incidents reported increased 10 percent from 125 incidents in 2005 to 138 in 2006.While the number of ethnically-based hate crimes decreased 30 percent from 27 to 19, the number of religiously-motivated hate crimes increased 48 percent from 22 to 42.
"ADL is concerned about the overall increase in hate crimes in Colorado, and finds the substantial increase in religiously motivated hate crimes particularly troubling," ADL Mountain States Regional Director Bruce H. DeBoskey said. "Hate crimes are unique; they have an impact far beyond the individual victim of the crime. When a victim is targeted because of his or her race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability everyone who shares those characteristics feels threatened.These crimes resonate throughout the victim's community, and threaten the safety and well being of every member of that group."
Additionally, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
"The FBI report released today is another disturbing documentation of the nature and magnitude of the hate crime problem in America. While the statistics are for 2006, we continue to see a flurry of hate crimes, especially a rash of nooses and swastikas appearing around the country. Now is the time for Congress and the President to act to permit federal authorities to provide the full range of assistance to state and local law enforcement officials prosecuting hate crimes.
"The Hate Crime Statistics Act is one of the most important federal hate crime laws. The FBI's national data collection effort has sparked essential improvements in the response of the criminal justice system to hate violence. Enactment of the pending Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act will supplement these efforts and facilitate more comprehensive hate crime reporting.
"There also needs to be increased anti-bias education in schools to prevent these crimes — and training for police agencies and expanded coordination between federal and state authorities to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act is designed to expand the range of assistance federal authorities can provide state and local officials prosecuting hate crimes and, when appropriate, provide authority for federal officials to investigate and prosecute hate crimes in those circumstances where state and local officials cannot or will not act themselves. The measure passed the House 237-180 in May and was included as an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill by the Senate in September. The measure is now pending before a House-Senate conference committee meeting to reconcile their differing versions.
ADL has extensive resources that can be tailored to meet community needs, including "How to Combat Bias and Hate Crimes: An ADL Blueprint for Action," a compendium of ADL's best education and training initiatives. Other hate crime prevention and counteraction resources are available at www.adl.org/combating_hate/ and www.partnersagainsthate.org.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
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