A national project tracking anti-LGBTQ+ hate found dozens of homophobic and transphobic incidents in Texas during 2024, ranging from physical assaults to stolen Pride flags, though the most common type of incident were protests by right-wing extremists, often outside of drag events. The database, compiled by the Anti-LGBTQ+ Extremism Reporting Tracker (ALERT) Desk, a project of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD, also recorded a wave of dozens of bomb threats, including several in Texas. 

In all, the ALERT Desk logged 918 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents nationwide last year, of which 61 took place in our state. Only New York, with 61, and California, with 125, had as many or more hate incidents. 

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Nationally, that averages out to about 2.5 incidents per day in 2024. Almost half of the incidents (48 percent) targeted transgender, nonbinary, or other gender-nonconforming people. The ALERT Desk compiles incidents from mainstream and independent media, as well as through direct reports, social media, and monitoring of extremists’ online communications. The Texas Observer was granted access to a full list of incidents reported in Texas. 

The report, issued last month, comes after Republicans incorporated attacks on LGBTQ+ people, and especially transgender people, as a key part of their party platform, and invested millions in campaign ads attacking trans rights during the presidential election. Already, at least 50 bills targeting LGBTQ+ people have been filed in the Texas Legislature for the current session. Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting trans people. 

Experts on extremism have long warned that legislative attacks on queer and trans rights encourage hate incidents like those tracked by the ALERT Desk. Sarah Moore, senior manager of news and research at GLAAD, said Trump’s executive orders further endanger LGBTQ+ people by creating a permissive atmosphere for bigotry.

“It’s … a dog whistle to those who are seeking to do harm against the community,” she added. 

She said the president is “virtue signalling” his intention to “tear down a lot of the progress that’s been made on the pro-equality front.”

She also expressed concern that the president’s sweeping pardon of January 6 rioters would encourage far-right groups that frequently protest LGBTQ+ inclusive events. Moore worries about a “direct correlation between some of these presidential directives and the emboldening of violent extremist groups.”

The ALERT Desk recorded three assaults in Texas in 2024, including a vicious beating in April, when four individuals allegedly yelled slurs while attacking Joshua Ybarra as he left a night club in Austin’s popular Sixth Street district. Ybarra ended up in the hospital; a friend who came to his aid was also injured. Moore noted that violent attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals are only included when the motive behind the attack is clear.

There were also six bomb threat incidents: In March 2024, an individual sent threats to four locations of the Planet Fitness gym chain in Austin, Dallas, Mesquite, and San Antonio, accusing the company of encouraging sexual predation against children. Those threats, Moore explained, came after “a [cisgender] woman complained about a trans woman using the locker rooms [at a Planet Fitness] in Alaska” and the chain’s inclusive locker room and bathroom policies were highlighted in a post by the notorious anti-LGBTQ+ social media influencer Chaya Raichik, better known as “Libs of TikTok,” leading to “dozens” of bomb threats nationwide. A Fort Worth middle school and one of its staff members also faced bomb threats in March after a post by Raichik. In June, yet another bomb threat forced the temporary cancellation of a drag show in Austin, on the same weekend drag shows around the country faced similar threats.

Anti-LGBTQ+ protests took place in cities across the state in 2024, including outside of school board meetings, drag shows, a North Texas LGBTQ+ Pride Festival, and more Planet Fitness locations. GLAAD logged 30 protests in Texas, making it the most common form of hate incident last year. Some protesters made violent threats against participants: A drag show scheduled to take place in Midland in January was canceled because of threats. In November, the American Blackshirts, who Moore called a “neo-Nazi group,” expressed their desire to hang “pedos” and “groomers” as they protested two Dallas drag shows.

Moore told the Observer that while this kind of data can be frightening, she hopes the ALERT Desk will enable LGBTQ+ people to better protect themselves. “I hope that this … helps people understand the threats that are facing our community, but also the resilience of those who are facing these threats.”