Measuring gay populations and antigay hate crime

Objectives. The study of crime directed at gay and lesbian targets is hampe red by two measurement problems: Police agencies provide unreliable data on hate crime, and tract-level census data contain no direct information abou t gay or lesbian population density. This article attempts to gauge two qua ntities that cannot be measured directly or unambiguously: the size of the gay and lesbian populations and the number of hate crimes directed at gay a nd lesbian targets. Methods. Population data for New York City were gathere d from market research lists and from a special tabulation of the 1990 Cens us. Hate crime data were obtained from the Anti-Violence Project and the Ne w York Police Department. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to as;ess t he reliability of each measure and the correlation between latent populatio n density and hate crime. Results. Each of these measures offers a reliable means by which to assess cross-sectional differences in the population den sity and victimization of gay men. Census and police data prove to be infer ior indicators of lesbian population density and antilesbian hate crime. Fo r both men and women, population density is strongly correlated with the in cidence of hate crime. Conclusions. Despite the fact that advocacy groups r ecord many more antigay incidents than do the police, both sources of data are in agreement about where hate crimes occur. The strong correlation betw een population density and hate crime against gay men implies that Census d ata could be used to forecast the occurrence of hate crime in areas where n o police records exist.