Michigan state police have begun recording hate crimes against transgender and gender nonconforming individuals.
The FBI began using gender identity as a category for hate crimes in 2013.
Their data show that nationally gender-identity related hate crimes have doubled since 2014.
Attorney General Dana Nessel applauded state police Friday for adding gender identity to the category of hate crimes. That list already includes race, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and ethnicity.
Kelly Rossman-McKinney is with the Attorney General’s Office.
“It’s definitely going to shed light on the types of hate crimes the transgender community faces and it gives them really an increased voice in the legal community on these issues,” said Rossman-Mckinney.
“And it really is such an important step in the rise of awareness of hate crimes that are specific to gender identity.”
In a written statement Attorney General Dana Nessel said the new datapoint will “shed light on the types of hate crimes the transgender community faces.”
State police officials did not respond to our request for comment on why the category was not added sooner.