hate crime laws

June 18, 2019 - The man who gunned down his three Muslim neighbors in Chapel Hill in 2015 has pleaded guilty to their murders, but he couldn't be charged under North Carolina's hate crime law because it doesn't cover felonies. That's just one of many weaknesses in those state laws, which advocates are trying to strengthen.

March 10, 2017 - Transgender women — and especially trans women of color — face disproportionate violence, with at least seven murders in the U.S. so far this year. Most of these occurred in the South, where state hate crime laws don't cover gender identity, and where lawmakers are stirring up transphobia with so-called "bathroom bills."