El Paso is one of 14 areas across the country
               where community- based anti-violence programs
               analyze hate crimes targeted against gays and
               lesbians, bisexuals, and transexuals. 

               These efforts are known as national tracking
               programs. Based on their findings, anti gay violence
               increased nationwide by 2% in 1997. During the
               same period, New York City had the most reports of
               anti-homosexual violence, at 658. San Francisco
               had 402 such reports. Los Angeles made the top
               three with 350. 

               After five years of increasing hate crimes against the
               gay and lesbian community of El Paso, the number
               of incidents reported in 1997 WAS 145, a decrease
               of just over 17% 

               The report shows 14.5% of the incidents happen in
               public, specifically on city streets. Eighteen percent of
               the victims say they were attacked in the privacy of
               their own homes, and more than a third of the
               anti-gay hate crimes took place on school
               campuses. 

               Gustavo Almodovar, 7-News