Mark Potok Discusses Hate Crime Data And Relationship To LGBT Victories (VIDEO)

WATCH: Are The Recent Hate Crimes A Backlash To LGBT Rights Victories?

With the disturbing spate of hate crimes in New York City recently, Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, joined Josh Zepps of HuffPost Live to talk about the fact that hate crimes all across the country are vastly under reported.

Potok, who believes the incidents could be the result of a backlash related to recent LGBT rights victories, says, "The reality is 12 states have approved same sex marriage, looks like it will be 13 before we know it, and I think what's happening out there is, I think the really homophobic parts of the country.... are having meltdowns. They are losing this battle and they are losing it badly."

While the FBI reports that there were 1,277 hate crimes in 2011, other studies show that the numbers are closer to 250,000.

Check out the video above to hear more about these deceptive hate crime numbers.

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