FBI: Hate crime down in 2007 but anti-gay crime up

    WASHINGTON - Law enforcement agencies reported a slight
decrease in hate crimes last year, despite an increase against gays
and lesbians.

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    The FBI reported more than 7,600 hate crime incidents in 2007,
down about 1 percent from last year.
    Racially motivated hate crimes accounted for more than half of
that total. Religious bias was the second-leading motive for hate
crimes, followed by prejudice against sexual orientation.
    Within those categories, the FBI report found most hate crimes
tended to be anti-black, anti-Jewish and anti-gay.
    The FBI report is purely statistical and does not assign a cause
for the slight overall decrease or the 6 percent increase in
anti-gay hate crimes.