California Senator Laphonza Butler questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray about “a 13.8% increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation and 32.9% surge in hate crimes based on gender identity over the previous year.” She pointed out that the one-year anniversary of the Club Q shooting that killed five in Colorado Springs, in which LGBTQ+ people were targeted. “Why,” she asked “do you believe that there's been such a terrifying surge in hate crimes attacking the LGBTQ plus community?”
Director Wray responded that he wasn’t sure he knew, but that there is a “broader phenomenon that we're seeing in this country that people, no matter what their motivation is, no matter what their hatred or their ideology is, are choosing to express that hatred or motive through violence.” He said that “hate crimes in general are chronically under-reported,” so the FBI has been trying to work with “all affected communities to improve reporting.” But, in general, he said “there is a problem, a societal problem right now, of people manifesting hatred through violence” afflicting the U.S..
