City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission Issues Hate Incidents Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009

For more information, please contact:
Barbara McKinney, Director, City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission, 349-3429, [mailto:human.rights@bloomington.in.gov]
Danny Lopez, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-CITY, [mailto:lopezd@bloomington.in.gov]

Bloomington, IN-The City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has issued its latest yearly report on hate incidents. The current report includes 29 incidents, the same number reported last year.

The hate incidents described in the current report were motivated by a variety of biases. Sixteen were motivated by bias on the basis of race, 11 on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, three on the basis of sex, two on the basis of religion and one on the basis of disability. The total number of biases organized by type exceeds the total number of incidents in the report because some incidents showed evidence of more than one kind of bias.

The hate incidents came in a variety of forms. Twelve reports of actual physical harm; seven reports of vandalism; five threats of physical harm and five reports of verbal harassment in the form of name-calling and slurs.

Alcohol appears to be a factor in eight of the incidents.

The BHRC has been gathering data and issuing reports on hate incidents since 1990. The commission receives reports from the City of Bloomington Police Department, news reports and individuals. People who are victims of hate incidents are urged to report the incident to the police by calling 911 or to the BHRC by calling 349-3429 or e-mailing [mailto:human.rights@bloomington.in.gov]. The BHRC accepts anonymous reports. This year's report can be found online at [www.bloomington.in.gov/bhrc|www.bloomington.in.gov/bhrc].

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