inclusion Archives

UK Research: Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate and Rising Trends

04/11/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Hate Crime Statistics die Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate and Rising Trends

The data on UK hate crimes presents a complex picture. Recent official statistics show a 2% decrease in sexual orientation-related hate crimes (from 19,127 to 18,702) and an 11% decrease in transgender identity-related crimes (from 4,258 to 3,809) in 2024/25. However, advocacy groups caution that these figures don’t tell the full story.

The statistics exclude Metropolitan Police data due to reporting changes, which significantly affect LGBTQ+ data, given that many LGBTQ+ people live in London. Additionally, over the past five years, hate crimes based on sexual orientation have risen by around 44% and those based on trans identity have nearly doubled at 88%.

LGBTQ+ hate crime charity Galop saw a 60% increase in LGBTQ+ hate crime victims coming to them for support in 2024, suggesting the official figures underestimate the true scale of the problem. Fewer than one in ten LGBTQ+ people report hate crimes or incidents to police, with half feeling the police wouldn’t do anything.

The Supreme Court Ruling

In April 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the legal definition of woman under the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex assigned at birth. The case originated from a challenge by For Women Scotland to Scottish legislation requiring 50% of public board members to be women, which included transgender women with gender recognition certificates.

The ruling determined that interpreting ‘sex’ as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in an incoherent way, and that transgender women could be excluded from same-sex facilities such as changing rooms if proportionate.

Many LGBTQ+ people are living in fear following the Supreme Court judgment, according to advocacy groups, though this period doesn’t fall within the most recent hate crime statistics. The ruling effectively forced trans people to use sex-segregated public services and facilities according to their sex-assigned at birth, contrary to their identity and appearance.

Reform UK’s Growing Influence

Reform UK’s manifesto pledges to ban “transgender ideology” in primary and secondary schools, with no gender questioning, social transitioning or pronoun swapping, and mandates single-sex facilities in schools. The party also states it will scrap the 2010 Equality Act and eliminate diversity, equality and inclusion roles.

69% of Reform UK voters believe that trans people should not be able to legally change their gender via a gender recognition certificate, though 65% still believe same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. The 10 English councils now controlled by Reform have banned the flying of Pride flags, limiting flagpoles to the Union Jack and regional emblems.

Reform UK’s electoral threat has pushed both Conservative and Labour parties to adopt more conservative positions on gender self-identification and transgender rights, framing these policies around safeguarding concerns for cisgender women and children.

Online Harassment and Platform Safety

GLAAD’s 2025 Social Media Safety Index found that platforms broadly under-moderated anti-LBGTQ+ hate content while over-moderating LGBTQ+ users, including taking down hashtags containing phrases such as queer, trans and non-binary. In the UK, coordinated far-right and Christian extremist online campaigns have targeted Pride events with fabricated claims that they are “sexualising public spaces,” with these narratives emboldening physical protests and attacks such as those witnessed at London Pride in 2024.

Two in five LGBTQ+ young people, including 58% of trans young people, have been targets of homophobic, biphobic or transphobic online abuse, while nearly all (97%) have witnessed it. Less than half of LGBTQ+ victims of online abuse reported their experiences to social media platforms, and less than one in ten reported to police.

School Bullying

A 2024 YouGov poll found that 47% of LGBTQ+ youth in the UK have been bullied or discriminated against at school or university because of their sexual orientation, and 25% faced bullying due to their gender identity. Half of those who experienced bullying never reported it, and of those who did report it to staff, more than seven in ten said staff responded badly.

Respondents reported being locked in toilets, kicked, verbally and sexually abused, with some being driven to suicidal thoughts, while others complained of teachers purposefully misgendering and mocking them in classrooms. 43% of LGBT+ school students have been bullied compared to 21% of non-LGBT+ students.

Conclusion

The research confirms the article’s themes for the UK context: rising anti-LBGTQ+ sentiment manifesting in hate crimes, discriminatory political developments like the Supreme Court ruling, the growing influence of anti-trans political parties like Reform UK, widespread online harassment, and persistent bullying in schools. While official hate crime statistics show recent decreases, the broader five-year trend shows significant increases, and underreporting remains a major issue.

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#LGBTQRights #TransRights #HateCrimes #UKPOLITICS #QueerRights #EndTransphobia #EndHomophobia #ProtectTransYouth #Equality #HumanRights #LGBTQSafety #UKNews #StandWithLGBTQ

Are Gay Economics Changing?

05/10/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Economic stability or gay rights?

Are gay economics changing – in Northern Ireland, especially when contrasting Belfast with rural areas, spending categories within the £6bn “pink pound” model tend to shift markedly due to differences in urbanisation, income, lifestyle, and access to services.

Key Spending Category Shifts

Culture, Leisure, and Recreation: Belfast, as the capital and economic centre, has more vibrant cultural, entertainment, and leisure infrastructures such as theatres, galleries, nightlife, and Pride events. This drives a higher proportion of LGBTQ+ spending on dining out, entertainment, and cultural events compared to rural areas where such options are limited or less diverse.
Retail and Shopping: Urban residents in Belfast have greater access to a wider range of retail outlets, including speciality and LGBTQ+ friendly brands and businesses, encouraging more discretionary spending. Rural areas have fewer outlets and less variety, leading to a lower percentage spent in this category.
Tourism and Travel: Belfast benefits from tourism infrastructure, so LGBTQ+ consumers may spend more on accommodation, guided tours, and travel experiences locally and regionally. Rural Northern Ireland has less infrastructure and fewer events attracting LGBTQ+ tourists, reducing local spending in this category.
Professional and Personal Services: Access to LGBTQ+ affirming health care, counselling, beauty, and other personal services in Belfast is stronger, contributing to higher spending in personal care and wellness sectors. Rural access tends to be more limited, which can suppress spending in these areas.
Housing and Accommodation: Belfast presents a wider rental and property market, often with higher costs, affecting housing-related expenses. Rural areas tend to have lower housing costs, leading to lower overall spending in this sector, although ownership patterns may differ substantially.

Income and Economic Context

Belfast’s economy supports higher average earnings, employment opportunities, and professional sectors, which encourages higher discretionary income available for non-essential spending categories mentioned above.
Rural areas often face lower incomes, fewer job opportunities, and less economic dynamism, constraining consumer spending patterns overall, including within the LGBTQ+ community.

Summary

Spending on culture, leisure, retail, personal services, and travel tends to increase significantly when focusing on Belfast’s urban LGBTQ+ population compared to rural Northern Ireland, driven by greater availability, diversity, and disposable income. Rural areas show more limited discretionary spending opportunities, reflecting economic and infrastructural disparities across the region.

But as an overview, are Gay Economics Changing? – Yes, they are, the pressure from President Trump on organisations is seeing a comprehensive change in spending from business and government, and this will change the spending habits of the LGBTQI+ community.

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Gay history – Kate Hoey speech

27/01/2025 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

May 11, 2023, Baroness Hoey’s amendment on gay history did not connect with the Lords!

Sadly none of the gay peers offered to help Kate go to a vote on her amendment so she didn’t press for a division.

It would have been great watching the progressive peers in turmoil wondering whether to vote for or against a gay matter.

There was also zero interest in intersectional circles in Belfast and the BBC was unusually mute on her amendment despite their gay staffers.

…

Gay history amendment draft remarks for Baroness Hoey submitted by Jeff Dudgeon

My second amendment, number 118 to Clause 46, refers to the Bill’s required production of
an analysis of patterns and themes in events during the Troubles. It adds to the specific
mention of women and girls, research on the experience of the gay and lesbian community.
This is a small minority, just 2% of our people according to the recent census figure, but it
figured centrally in disputes and debates throughout the decades, perhaps more so than any
other group outside the two main communities.
The process from decriminalisation to now gay equality was effected in a long series of
legislative steps, always at Westminster.
I played, as I said at Committee, a small part in 1994 with an amendment to keep Northern
Ireland in line with the rest of Britain on the gay age of consent. Tony Blair, who was then
Shadow Home Secretary, helped me whip sufficient support from MPs across the parties,
enabling my amendment to win by 254 votes to 141.
The particular reason why the gay community’s experience needs addressing is that it
suffered, as we all did, from death and injury through killings, bombings and shootings by
illegal organisations. But it then had, separately, to face those organisations when they
brought further death and destruction – specifically to the gay community.
That even occurred after the 1995 ceasefires, in the case of a police officer, who was
murdered by the INLA in 1997 and the Reverend David Templeton by the UVF, both in 1997.
Their killings followed a series of bombings of gay venues over thirty years by the IRA and
loyalist paramilitaries, and of murders of gay men – often picked off the street – especially in
the darkest days of the 1970s.
I note for the record Strasbourg is not calling for reinvestigation in these cases.
Academic research can provide not just a record of those events but a valuable analysis of
how life amidst death was experienced.
I sincerely hope that the Minister will look favourably on the matter and provide more
reassurance than at Committee when he said, “The provisions of the Bill as drafted would not
preclude relevant research into LGBT experiences.”
Inclusion is needed not a lack of precluding such research.
Indeed if the NIO is requiring in draft regulations – as it is this month – that our schools
update their teaching on sexuality, it seems necessary and consistent for this amendment to
go into the Bill.

END

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