The history of violence against LGBT people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals (LGBT), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. Those targeted by such violence are believed to violate heteronormative rules and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, with statistics showing that violence among female same-sex couples is more common than among couples of the opposite sex, although male same-sex violence is less common. Extensive violence has been directed against the LGBT community for decades. Since the 1969 Stonewall riot against one of the many police raids on gay bars altered the goal of LGBT rights activists from assimilation to acceptance, there have been many more reports and instances of violence against LGBT people in the United States. Dozens of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals are murdered every year in the US, and the murder of black transgender women is especially prevalent. Attacks against LGBT people generally center on the idea that there is a normal way for people to live, which encompasses all expressions, desires, behaviors, and roles associated with the gender each person was assigned to at birth, known as heteronormativity and cisnormativity. Over time the number of these acts of violence has increased greatly, whether due to the changing religious and political views, increased community visibility, or other factors. There have been political protests intended to bring about harsher penalties for these crimes. A hate crime is defined as the victimization of individuals because of their actual or perceived race, ethnicity or national origin, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity or disability. Hate crimes against LGBTQIA people often occur because the perpetrators are homophobic or transphobic. Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality can be either psychological or physical up to and including murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases. Victims of violence who are both LGBT and a person of color may have trouble distinguishing whether the violence was based on their sexuality/gender identity or whether racism also played a significant factor. An intersectional approach would examine how these forms of discrimination combine in unique ways. The United States has passed the Hate