Hate crime cases involving anti-gay sentiment shot up in Santa Clara County last year, a striking increase that a leading prosecutor attributes to controversy over Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

Anti-gay incidents accounted for more than half of hate-crime cases last year — 56 percent — a big jump from only 15 percent in 2007. There were 14 anti-gay cases out of 25 hate-crime cases in 2008, compared with only 3 out of 20 in 2007.

“My belief from having done this work for many years is that surges in types of hate incidents are linked to the headlines and controversies of the day,” said Deputy District Attorney Jay Boyarsky, who is assigned to monitor hate crimes. “Marriage equality and Proposition 8 have been in the news, and we have seen an increase in gay-bashing.”

A hate crime is defined as a criminal act committed in whole or in part because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim: race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or association with a person or group with one or more of these characteristics.

“Anyone can be a victim of hate crime, including white males,” Boyarsky said. “We’re not playing political favorites. Certainly, we’ve had Christian victims of hate crimes.’

In Santa Clara County last year, hate-crime enhancements were added to criminal charges ranging from graffiti vandalism and disturbing the peace to assault and battery.

The increase in anti-gay acts in Santa Clara County saddened South Bay activists, who opposed the gay marriage ban that garnered 52 percent of the vote in November.

“When there’s a lot more information about gays and lesbians on TV or in the news, it brings out the worst in people who have an inherent bias against groups they don’t belong to,” said Leslie Bulbuk, president of BAYMEC, a regional political action group representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. “It seems like visibility makes people come out of the woodwork.”

But the former campaign manager for Proposition 8 said the statistics don’t reflect cases in which opponents harassed and threatened supporters of the ban.

“I certainly hope Proposition 8 did not result in more crime,” said Frank Schubert of the group Protect Marriage. “But if it did, it did so on both sides.”

Comparable data was not available for other Bay Area counties. Those numbers will be released in July by the state Attorney General’s Office in its annual hate crime report.

Boyarsky cautioned against reading too much from small statistical samples, pointing out that the vast majority of hate incidents don’t get referred to the DA’s office. The FBI also collates hate crime statistics based on reports called in to police agencies each year. More police reports are filed than actually become criminal cases, partly because there are no known suspects, Boyarsky said.

A review of that data dating back to 2004 shows that statewide, hate crimes based on sexual orientation consistently accounted for about 1 out of 5 of the police reports. Incidents based on race or ethnicity are the most common.

In Santa Clara County, however, the percentage of hate crimes reported to police has fluctuated from a high last year of 28 percent to a low in 2006 of 9 percent.

Contact Tracey Kaplan at tkaplan@mercurynews.com or (408) 278-3482.Tat, sim ecte