Nearly 7 out of 10 people in the LGBTQ+ community say they have been subjected to a hate crime because of their sexual orientation or transgender status in the last year. hat’s according to the results of a new study highlighting the rise in hate crimes and hate incidents.
Around 1 in 4 respondents said they had suffered physical injury from a hate-fuelled attack and 65% reported being verbally abused or ridiculed. 75% of victims said they had never reported a hate crime to the police because they felt the incident was too minor or because they did not trust the police to take it seriously or do anything about it.
The research coincides with the launch of Zoteria, a new app created by the Vodafone Foundation which offers help and advice to people affected by hate crime and makes it easier for them to report incidents. Home Office figures show the prevalence of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime doubled between 2016 and 2021.
