Trans-bashing is the act of victimizing a person physically, sexually, or verbally because they are transgendered or transsexual. Unlike gay bashing, it is committed because of the target's actual or perceived gender identity, not sexual orientation. The term has also been applied to hate speech directed at transgender people and at depictions of transgender people in the media that reinforce negative stereotypes about them. In Seattle's gay village of Capitol Hill, there is some evidence of an increase in incidents of trans-bashing over the past two years.