Yahoo! News - Reports of anti-gay violence increase
Incidents of anti-gay hate violence rose 24 percent in the last six months of 2003, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down sodomy laws, according to data released this week by a national anti-violence project.

The data is "clear evidence of the backlash" against GLBT people as a result of heightened media attention following the Supreme Court decision and the controversy over same-sex marriage, according to a press release by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects (NCAVP), which tracks anti-gay hate violence.

In some areas, the number of attacks rose even more dramatically, when compared with data from a year earlier. Incidents increased by 133 percent in Colorado, 120 percent in Chicago and 43 percent in New York. In San Francisco, which became ground zero in the struggle over same-sex marriage rights in February, incidents in the last half of 2003 rose 14 percent.

"This is a stunning increase," Denise de Percin, director of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, told the Rocky Mountain News. "The polarized daily coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues has raised the profile of our community and galvanized into action the people who hate us."

In Multnomah County, Ore., which grants marriage rights to same-sex couples, county commissioners have reported receiving death threats. "I hope your whole family is killed. I hope with all my heart that you're gunned down and killed," said one caller in a phone message to commissioners.