Hate crime legislation needs to be introduced now in order to tackle the spiralling level of homophobic attacks, a gay rights organisation has said.
The call comes as rainbow flags adorned the capital yesterday for the 40th Dublin Pride parade. Latest figures show there was a 29% increase in hate crimes last year, 22% of which were sexuality based.
Padraig Rice, policy and research manager with LGBT Ireland, said there has been an increase in hate crimes over the last two years in Ireland. He said the incidents also includes a large proportion of homophobic attacks.
According to statistics released by the gardai, of all reported hate-motivated attacks and incidents, sexuality accounted for 22%. Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror, Mr Rice said there was an increase on the 448 cases reported in 2021.
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He added: “In 2022 there were 582 crimes reported to the gardai which was up almost 30% on the previous year and we know there are many more that go unreported.
“Hate crimes include everything from verbal abuse, harassment, damaging property, assault, manslaughter and murder. We are seeing in recent times people being attacked in gay bars, at Pride festivals, walking down the quays in Dublin, on the bus and even in their homes.
“We have also seen other types of attacks, we have heard of Pride flags being burned, bricks going through the windows of gay bars and homophobic graffiti.
"The important thing to remember about hate crimes is to understand they send out a message to a community that you are unsafe because of who you are. They affect us all and we need to take them more seriously.
"It’s not just happening in Ireland either, we are seeing it across Europe. Last year was the most violent year for LGBT people in Europe in a decade.”
There have been a number of high profile homophobic attacks in Ireland in recent years. Social media influencer David Babington was violently attacked in Cork in February.
And Mark Sheehan, 26, was assaulted by a young man on the bus in Dublin last year. Meanwhile, Evan Somers was punched after leaving a gay bar in Dublin city centre.
Mr Somers, 23, who was left with a fractured eye socket and a dislocated and fractured ankle in a separate attack. There was also the case of teen was also allegedly attacked in a homophobic assault last month in Navan, Co Meath.
Mr Babington, 43, who suffered facial injuries including to his eye socket, told RTE ’s Prime Time how a night out with friends turned into a nightmare.
He said: “We went to see a live band and separated around 11.30.
“Someone started saying ‘You f**king queer, you f**ing f****t’, I knew something was about to happen.
“It was a massive punch and I went down, it’s blurry and hazy.”
Mr Rice said unfortunately despite a lot of progress in gay rights including with the marriage referendum in 2015, a lot of people still have a homophobic outlook. He continued: “I think there is a legacy of homophobia still in Ireland.
“Homosexuality was criminalised by the State and it was a crime to be gay and that was only decriminalised in 1993 and I think that still impacts on mindsets and attitudes to some extent.
“People think the marriage equality referendum solved all the issues we face but unfortunately despite having won the right to walk down the aisle, many of us still look over our shoulders in the street.
“We have seen incidents in recent months, a young person attacked in Navan and other high profile attacks.
“We need to tackle it head on and that’s why it’s important to have hate crime legislation introduced.”
Just last week, a report was released which showed that 53% of Irish workers who identify as LGBTQIA+ feel discriminated against at work.
The survey, which was carried out by the hiring platform Indeed, found that 60% of participants reported that they had experienced microaggressions in the workplace due to their LGBTQIA+ identity.
Mr Rice said that social media is also now a hot bed for homophobic online content and attacks.
He added: “There was a report which showed that 87% of young LGBT people had experienced anti-LGBT hate or harassment on social media in the last year.
“There is a real issue with stuff we are seeing on social media spilling over into real life.
“In recent weeks too there were LGBT books removed from libraries in Cork, Louth and Dublin.
“In terms of solutions to all this we want to see the Hate Crime Bill passed.
“We also want to see proper training for people involved in the criminal justice system.”
But Mr Rice encouraged people to enjoy the Pride celebrations this weekend across the city.
He added: “I think that Pride is a very important celebration for people to come out and enjoy themselves together.”
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