January 19

On this date in 2002, Gregory Galvez, 71, died of smoke inhalation as he tried to escape from his high-rise apartment building in Lakeview (Cook County), Illinois.  A swastika, anti-Semitic messages and anti-gay messages were scrawled near the origin of the fire.  Both police and building residents claimed there had been numerous hate messages written in the building's elevator and numerous small fires in the building in the weeks leading up to the fire that led to Mr. Galvez's death.  Mr. Galvez lived on the ninth floor; his body was found on the fifth floor stairwell.

In Cooper City, Florida on this date in 2008, the campaign manager for Jewish mayor, Debby Eisinger, 49, had a swastika scratched onto her vehicle. Eisinger’s campaign manager, Lori Green, 44, who is also Jewish, said her car was parked beside her house in Embassy Lakes when the anti-Semitic act occurred. Green, whose husband's relatives are Holocaust survivors, reported the swastika when she discovered it, and the Broward Sheriff's Office have labeled the incident a hate crime.

In Bolingbrook, Illinois, on this date in 2009, an openly bisexual 15-year-old male from Romeoville, Illinois, was allegedly hit, choked and threatened with a knife by Phillip N. Jackson, 44, as the teenager was socializing with another teenager at the residence where Jackson was staying. Jackson, who is alleged to have made slurs about—and directed at—the teenaged victim's sexual orientation at the time of the attack, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery and committing a hate crime. Phillip Jackson's arraignment date is pending in Will County Circuit Court in Joliet.

In a Multnomah County courtroom in Portland, Oregon on this date in 2011, a jury convicted and a judge sentenced a 6-foot-5-inch white man, Blake Andrew McCune, 23, of Vancouver, Washington, of Interfering with Making a Police Report for knocking a mobile telephone out of a 42-year-old gay man's hand as he spoke to 9-1-1 on April 12, 2009, after the man, Airick Heater, dailed for help after hearing a disturbance in which gay slurs were uttered outside Blow Pony, a gay-friendly nightclub in Old Town Portland. Blake McCune was sentenced by Judge Adrianne Nelson to 18 months on probation, 80 hours of community service, and a $300 fine. Following a two-day trial the jury acquitted McCune of second-degree intimidation (a hate crime), finding that he did not push or punch Mr. Heater while uttering an anti-gay slur, as was alleged. The case might not have gone to trial at all had it not been for the tenacity of the victim who is an LGBT activist in Portland. In addition to repeatedly calling the prosecutor's office to make certain he could be available at McCune's arraignment, Mr. Heater publicly complained in June 2010 at a hate crimes meeting—attended by the Portland mayor, a member of the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, and the Portland police chief—about the case having been closed in January 2010. A judge originally dismissed the charges against Blake A. McCune in January 2010 after the District Attorney's Office said it was unable to proceed with the case. Later, the District Attorney's Office admitted that it mistakenly mailed Mr. Heater's trial notices to Minnesota. Mr. Heater also voiced frustration that many of the witnesses who could have corroborated his version of events—that McCune punched him in the face after calling him an anti-gay slur—could not be found 21 months after the incident, and therefore were not present to testify at McCune's trial. McCune—who was originally charged with harassment, intimidation, and disorderly conduct—admitted that he called Mr. Heater a fag, but McCune asserted he never punched Mr. Heater.

On this date in 2011, in Amsterdam, New York, a Buddhist organization—Members of the World Peace and Health Organization—had power lines cut and ripped out, and had water lines cut by vandals at their Buddhist temple and warehouse on Leonard Avenue, and the following day (January 20) the organization received a threatening telephone call. Despite these facts, the mayor of Amsterdam said the incident was a burglary and not a hate crime, apparently based on the fact that nearby places had been burglarized recently. In addition, Amsterdam police Detective Sergeant Owen Fuhs offered a bizarre understanding of his state's hate crime law when he told the press about the incident, "When people do hate crimes, they insult things based on peoples race. We don't have that [in this incident]." Shortly after the Buddhist group arrived in Amsterdam someone broke into some of their properties in September 2010, and stole statues of Buddha from their altar and copper pipes.

In Goshen, New York, on this date in 2011, a Hispanic man, Jesus M. Jimenez, Jr., 18, of Middletown, New York, was indicted on first-, second- and third-degree robbery and fourth-degree grand larceny, as well as one count of each as a hate crime. He stands accused of attacking an 82-year-old woman in the Thrall Library parking lot on November 20, 2010. That victim was knocked to the ground during a purse-snatching and sustained a serious injury. Police allege the victim was targeted because of her age. Jesus Jimenez was arrested in Middletown on November 22, 2010. He had been arrested previously in Middletown in early April 2010 at the age of 17 for allegedly breaking into over a dozen cars and stealing items from them. For that, Jimenez was charged with 11 counts of Petit Larceny (a misdemeanor), one count of Criminal Mischief (a misdemeanor), and two felony counts of Grand Larceny.