1 in 5 gay people are victims of hate crimes
June 27th, 2008
20% of lesbian and gay people in the UK have been victims of homophobic hate crimes at least once in the last three years, according to a YouGov survey of nearly 2,000 gay people.
Three quarters of those who have suffered hatecrimes – which range from harassment to serious physical and sexual assaults – don’t report the incidents to the police because they don’t think it will have any effect.
The survey was commissioned by gay rights group Stonewall, with the support of the Home Office, after the conviction of two men for the homophobic murder of Jody Dobrowski in June 2006. The British Crime Survey currently fails to identify or quantify homophobic crime.
Key findings from the research:
- 1 in 5 lesbian and gay people have experienced a homophobic hate crime or incident in the last three years
- 1 in 8 have been a victim in the last year
- 75% of those who experienced hate crimes didn’t report them to the police
- 1% of reported homophobic hate crimes resulted in a conviction
Some differences between gay and lesbian hate crime:
- 1 in 3 lesbians have been insulted or harassed because of their sexual orientation in the last three years, compared to 1 in 5 gay men
- Gay men are over two and a half times more likely to be the victim of a hate incident involving a physical assault than lesbians
- 1 in 8 incidents experienced by gay men and 1 in 20 experienced by lesbians involved unwanted sexual contact
- 8% of black and minority ethnic lesbian and gay people have experienced a physical assault as a homophobic hate incident, compared to 4% of all lesbian and gay people
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has reacted to the research by tasking the Ministerial Action Group on Violence to address homophobic hate crime.
“In the 21st century no one in Britain should ever feel under threat of verbal or physical violence just because of their sexual orientation,” said Ms Smith. “We’re determined that lesbian and gay people should have the confidence to report crimes to the police knowing that they will be taken seriously, the crime investigated and their privacy respected. Our key priorities are to increase reporting; increase offences brought to justice and to tackle repeat victimisation and hotspots.”
The report Homophobic Hate Crimes (.pdf) has ten recommendations to reduce the number of hate crimes. These include encouraging police to improve the recording of homophobic hate incidents, helping lesbian and gay people to report them, and tackling homophobic bullying in schools and the workplace in order to help reduce the likelihood of homophobic incidents on the streets.
Jody Dobrowski’s mother Sheri supports the research, saying: “Jody was not the first man to be killed, or terrorised, or beaten or humiliated for being homosexual – or for being perceived to be homosexual. Tragically, he will not be the last man to suffer the consequences of homophobia, which is endemic in this society. We cannot accept this. No intelligent, healthy or reasonable society could.”
The figures are truly appalling, but again miss out the experience of Bisexuals, who often suffer hate crimes from both the straight and lesbian/gay communities. The worst attack I ever suffered was in a LG community centre at the hands of a woman and her girlfriend because they didn’t want a bi woman in the centre. It took me a long time to get over it.
Eve ∼ June 27th, 2008 7:07 pmAnd what is worse is the LB domestic violence figures that were shown in Stonewall’s survey.
I won’t name the publication, but its name rhymes with Beaver, which is pretty much all that is in it. Anyway, it had an entire article on women-women violence in relationships and never once mentioned the words domestic violence.
Thank god for organisations bringing figures like these to light.
Loudsavlon ∼ July 2nd, 2008 8:11 am