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UK Research: Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate and Rising Trends

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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.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate and Rising Trends

Links:

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

 

Being Homeless

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Being Homeless

Being homeless is not normally a choice, it is usually forced upon individuals and families by circumstances over which they have little or no control.

Being Homeless

Research Matters wrote in March 2018, …Homelessness is a highly emotive issue and attention on the plight of those who are homeless in Northern Ireland has gained particular momentum…Young people who are homeless can have a range of complex needs resulting from mental health difficulties, family breakdown and childhood abuse…Family rejection resulting in a loss of accommodation and support networks was the most cited reason for homelessness amongst the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community…IN a study conducted by the Rainbow Project, it recommended developing protocols to enable the assessment of LGBT social housing applicants’ individual support needs and signposting vulnerable applicants to appropriate services.

In Dec 2020 David Levesley wrote in GQ …It’s been a bad year to be black or trans and it’s been an even worse year to be black, trans and queer if you don’t have a place to call home! His article incorporates a story about Sam who ended up in Amsterdam, Manchester and Birmingham and the difficulties of settling when you don’t know anyone or the culture. Ultimately he got lucky and heard about The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) who have been assisting queer youth at risk of homelessness since 1989.

Being Homeless - YOuth

The Simon Community in its report ‘Pathways to Youth Homelessness’ found that 82% of young people said they were straight whilst 18% identified as being gay, lesbian, bisexual or were unsure. This number is significant compared to 1.9% of the general population identifying as LGBT in a recent ONS survey (2015.

In may last year (2020) a task group was set up in Northern Ireland to help plan the regions homelessness response as it exited the Coronavius lockdown – my initial investigations have shown that the following groups would be joining this group:-

  • Depaul
  • Extern
  • First Housing
  • housing Rights
  • The Salvation Army
  • Simon Community
  • Welcome Organizations

but so far what I don’t see is any involvement of representative’s from the LGBTQ+ community, and taking into account the Simon Community figures 18% of young people who indicated they were homeless were either gay, lesbian, bisexual or were unsure, this over-sight by the organizers needs to be rectified!

Homelessness is something we can fix, along with children being hungry, we are supposedly a rich country, and if we are then how we deal with these social issues and ensure that people do not suffer is a mark of our society’s ability to be human.

 

Links

 

Visit ‘Pride’ in Spain – You Won’t Regret It!

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Pride 01Pride in Spain – Always!!!

What is it like being gay in Spain? Well like any question of this ilk, it depends on what you are looking for; but for any Spaniard it means one thing – BEING PROUD TO BE A SPANIARD.  They have pride in their country and their culture. Some of the major cities have a thriving LGBT culture, with clubs and bars, and other venues, but most often you will find that in Spain being gay means you have to travel if you want to socialise. That is not to say you won’t find gay friends in the small towns and villages, but it is difficult unless you are using the internet and apps on your phone – and remember internet access can be expensive in Spain, but a lot of bars/restaurants/cafes offer free internet so the possibility is there.

The following cities run Pride events during the season:

Pride in Bendirom

barcelona-viewpoint

Indeed this year the Benidorm Tourist Foundation,  travelled to Stockholm, along with Turespana and the Valencian Tourism Agency for the Stockholm Pride 2016 LGBT Festival. The objectives of Visit Benidorm where two fold, firstly to promote Benidorm Pride, one of the resort’s most important LGBT assets; and secondly to demonstrate to Sweden’s gay community that Benidorm can offer year-round advantages including LGBT accommodation, beaches, food, sports and leisure opportunities.

 

Russell Tovey becomes a patron of the Albert Kennedy Trust

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Russell Tovey
 

He’s joining Sir Ian McKellen and Lord Waheed Ali

LGBT youth homelessness charity, the Albert Kennedy Trust, has announced that actor Russell Tovey will become a patron of the charity.
Russell will act as a public figurehead for the AKT, raising awareness for LGBT homeless youths and bring to light the issues they face every day.
Joining him as a patron are singer and actress Heather Peace and Paralympian Claire Harvey.
The charity is committed to providing safe homes, mentoring and support to young people who experience homelessness as a result of coming out. Many young LGBT youths, that the AKT support, have had to experience abuse and rejection.
Commenting on the new patrons, Sir Ian McKellen said: “Their commitment will encourage others to contribute in whatever way they can to the essential work that the Albert Kennedy Trust does, on behalf of LGBT young people who desperately need help and protection.”
Russell has been active supporter of the charity for a long time, running workshops for AKT’s Young People Ambassadors, and fundraising for the charity’s many events.
Russell expressed his support for the work AKT does within the community: “The AKT helps thousands of young people every year find their footing again. Everyone deserves to live safe and supported and this charity changes lives for the better, daily.
“I am honored to be associated with them and if just by being there, I can make any difference at all, then that difference is the most important thing.”
To find out more information about the Albert Kennedy Trust and to make a donation to support them, go to their website: akt.org.uk.
Words Ellen Johnson, @ellenfjohnson

Albert Kennedy Trust LogoImage result for Right pointing arrowImage result for Click here

A Look At The Complicated Politics Of The Word 'Lesbian'

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Deputy Editor, Gay Voices
Posted: 06/08/2015 | Edited: 06/08/2015 05:09 PM EDT

 
After Ellen Editor-In-Chief Trish Bendix opened up about the complicated politics of the word “lesbian” in a HuffPost Live interview this week.
Sounding off on reports that “lesbian” was being phased out in favor of more inclusive terms, Bendix noted, “It’s scary because I feel like I’m erasing my identity, and a lot of other women’s identities.”
She went on to note, “We need to figure out a better way to also keep our identity in check and in place while also making sure to be touching all the bases that we want to be. …We still need to be able to have some term that gets us to say, ‘This is who we are and this is what we want and this is what we deserve.”
Bendix’s site emphasizes pop culture in the lesbian and bisexual community, with a “fun, feminist perspective” on everything from Hollywood to sports.
The topic has been a hot one as of late, after San Francisco’s Lexington Club, which is dedicated to a lesbian clientele, closed at the start of 2015 after 18 years of operation.
A Look At The Complicated Politics Of The Word 'Lesbian'


 

Book Review: Serious Pleasure

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This review was published Spring 1991 in Gay Star and was written by Stella Mahon


It a ‘serious pleasure‘ to find lesbian sex and sexuality celebrated by those to whom they belong.  But there are problems on several levels with this book.
The Sheba Collection are only too aware of some of these and assure us in their well-considered introduction, that they discussed them at great length.  For example, one of  the things they invite us to ponder is the thinness of the differential line ‘between erotica and pornography’.  How do we cope with the fact that there are some men ‘out there’ who will inevitably use the book as a  turn-on, written as the stories and poems often are, with frank and uncompromising abandon.  Sheba obviously feel that there is a further general – and important – debate, around lesbians taking ownership of how we are represented.  And I believe that they feel that they have taken a step within that debate, challenging us to rise towards finding ‘the fine balance between political correctness and personal experience’.
And there, of course lies another possible problem, colouring how individuals are likely to react to this volume.  It is, I would guess, improbable that every lesbian will identify with all the fantasies and romps through its pages.  It is also conceivable that there might be those who fail to identify with any of it and that not merely because personal experience precludes identification but also because personal politics, which, of necessity, have a collective focus and significance, will raise too many questions.
That larger debate aside, though never forgotten, there is one further problem to be addressed in reviewing the book: are the stories and poems a good read?  Disappointment will not be yours if all you want to do is absorb and react to many and varied visions of lesbian sex in full flow.  On that level, the stories are indeed a good read.  Some are headily passionate, others questing and sometimes finding.  Yet others are sheer fun, one, in particular Parting Gift by MIndy Meleyal with punchline which almost takes the breath away.
But is it wrong to want more than that level of expectation grants?  Does writing erotica have to mean, as it sometimes does here, that quality – of language, of story construction, of character creation – has to go by the board?  The essence of many of the stories is most definitely ‘grunt and thrust’, and that occasionally quite aggressively so.  (I am thinking on particular of the poem by Storme Webber, Like a Train).  There were occasions when I felt that what mattered was not the characters, but how quickly they could be got into bed or under the shower, so as not to lost space for exhaustively describing them at it.  As if the only vital thing is the fantasy.  Perhaps it is in erotica and I am looking at this book from a completely wrong premise.
But then, you see, not all of the book is like that.  Cherry Smith’s Crazy about Mary Kelly is a case in point.  Not that it is devoid of what I have called ‘grunt and thrust’.  But the presence of sexual desire and its fulfilment serves Cherry’s characters, helping to make them and their angers, fears and needs recognisable.  How they are together physically mirror their individual emotions and reactions to each other – and for a brief while we have the tensions of whether they will be able to grow past these to respond to each other as they need to  The story has a wholeness which some of the other lack.
And there are others which, while giving themselves over quite fully to fantasy, also carry something of universal about them.  In Ambivalance  by Tina Bays, we see before us something which most, if not all of us have expereinced – that electric insecurity of wanting and needing, which one is wary of voicing in case the other is not feeling the same way.
All in all, though I suppose I did feel rather overshelmed by the experience of reading this book.  I think I felt rather like the speaker in the last piece in the book – a poem of Cheryl Clarke (whose work as represented in Serious Pleasure is worth the folling up and I intend to).  I’m almost convinced that Sheba Collective, aware of the possibility of many shell-shocked readers, deliberately put this poem last, in a moment of wry humour, to slow things down, and bring other perspectives to bear.
Here it
is:

Sexual Preference by Cheryl Clarke

I’m a queer lesbian

Please don’t go down on me down yet

I do not prefer cunnilingus

(There’s room for me in the movement.)

Your tongue does not have to prove its prowness

there

to me

now

or

even on the first night

Your mouth all over my body

then there

Relationships

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When you start thinking on relationships, you suddenly realize that every one of us has a myriad of relationships which cover every strata of our lives.
A dictionary definition which I like is ‘an emotional or other connection between people’ – for me this says it all; however for some people it will probably not encompass the relationships that they have with their pets, cars, homes etc.
A wonderful quote I came across is:
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
Christopher Isherwood said:
It seems to me that the real clue to your sex-orientation lies in your romantic feelings rather than ijn your sexual feelings.  If you are gay, you are able to fall in love with a man, or woman, depending on your preference, and not just enjoy having sex with him or her. (with a small adjustment by the editor).
There has been a wonderful photographic project put together by Braden Summers entitled ‘ALL LOVE IS EQUAL’.  The pictures are brilliant in their composition and in the feelings that they encompass and portray.
 
Three photographs from the project:

At One With Nature Eastern Promise Friendship with Age

Are Northern Ireland School Libraries failing our LGBT Youth?

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Hmophobia is preventable in schoolOn a Wednesday evening during Belfast Pride I attended a Unison sponsored event ‘on whether our Northern Ireland School Libraries are failing our LGBT Youth?’
After a warm welcome by Fidelma Carolan, we were then given a wonderful presentation by Sally Bridge on the results of her research project undertaken whilst she was at university and completed in 2010.
The audience was actively involved, asking penetrating and supporting questions to expand and to add personal observations to what was already an exciting report.
The report highlighted the following areas of concern:

  • That the school library is seen as a safe haven, but librarians are not trained in providing this space and supporting it.
  • That 84% of schools either have no (52%) or don’t now (32%) if the school anti-bullying policies encompass homophobic bullying.
  • That 20% of libraries felt it was not appropriate to provide LGBT information in a school library; but of the 80% who were, 74% reported that they had no LGBT information in their library.
  • That the DENI circular on Relationships and Sexuality Education Policy in Schools has placed homosexuality in the middle of diseases and pornography, thus further seeming to stigmatized the LGBT community and its youth.
  • 76% of LGBT teenagers did not take part in any discussion about homosexuality whilst attending education.
  • School internal filtering software prevents access to positive LGBT information sites such as GlYNI, Rainbow etc; and as a consequence LGBT youth in education do not feel secure using school facilities in relation to their LGBT needs.

After the presentation the audience then moved into a more informal setting which enabled open discussion, and the exchanging of personal stories and observations.
The NI School LIbrary Service had very kindly organised for two librarians to be at the meeting, and they were in a position to answer some questions, and to expand on some of the findings.  The worrying factor is that it would seem that the School Library service is being run down, and that the role of the school librarian is disappearing with the service, where it will be run, being undertaken by untrained staff or overworked teachers – even dare I say school students who volunteer.
A full copy of the report can be viewed here:   [button_icon icon=”document-word” url=”https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CFkQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcadair.aber.ac.uk%2Fdspace%2Fbitstream%2F2160%2F5714%2F1%2FThesis.doc&ei=Lv3_Ub64EY2n0wWI0YHICQ&usg=AFQjCNF4JKGGrti_m3IOUCDxw9h9e6rR3Q&sig2=KpcSTaSLr12ATkUKm2hVpA&bvm=bv.50165853,d.d2k” blank=”true”]Are NI school libraries failing our LGB&T youth? [/button_icon]
At the end of the evening, it was agreed that a focus group/pressure group would be formed to monitor and to help schools and Government realise that LGBT youth need full support and protection in our schools, and that the school library is fundamental in the provision of this.
This presentation will also be provided during the Newry Pride – all will be welcome to the Unison sponsored presentation, and I hope you will attend.

Australian LGBT Refugees – Stop them sending them to Papua New Guinea

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Australia has just guaranteed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) refugees, who arrive by boat, will be sent to Papua New Guinea – where being gay could get you 14 years in jail.Australia is one of the few countries in the region that openly accepts LGBT people. It has always been a safe haven for refugees fleeing persecution. Now, only weeks out from an election, the government has thrown together this controversial policy in the hope of winning votes. Worse yet, the opposition party are proposing an even more extreme policy.
The policy has already begun to backfire, with Australians taking to the streets in protest and former Prime Ministers publicly denouncing the move. Local outrage has all parties contesting the election scrambling to respond.
Will you join the call for Australia to drop its dangerous new policy that denies hope and safety to those who they need it most?
www.allout.org/australian-home
In Papua New Guinea, it’s a crime to be gay. Because of that, any person seeking asylum there can automatically be turned away. Every LGBT person who arrives by boat will have little choice but to lie about who they are to avoid being sent home.
With their reputation under attack, Australia’s leaders could be pushed to stop violating the Geneva Conventions and protect the most vulnerable.
Sign this petition and tell Australia that you won’t stand for this:
www.allout.org/australian-home
The full policy states that all people arriving by boat to seek asylum will be relocated to Papua New Guinea where their refugee claims will be assessed, and only then allowed to settle in the community. Legal experts have already denounced the plan for breaching international law. It is singling out people on boats for taking the last resort available to them.
Hiding on a leaky boat, crossing some of the world’s most dangerous oceans, is the most difficult way to reach such an isolated country. No one would take such a risky boat journey if their very lives weren’t on the line.
Will you sign the petition against the Australian government’s plan to force people back into danger?
www.allout.org/australian-home
All Out’s first ever campaign successfully halted the deportation of Ugandan lesbian Brenda Namagadde from the UK back to her home country. Since then, we’ve become a powerful movement of over 1.7 million people fighting anti-gay laws around the world. Take a stand against Australia’s unfair targeting of asylum seekers – sign the petition:
www.allout.org/australian-home
Thanks for going All Out.
Andre, Hayley, Jeremy, Marie, Marie-Marguerite, Sara, and the rest of the All Out team.
SOURCES:
UN refugee agency raises more concerns over Labor’s PNG solution – The Guardian,  26 July 2013
www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/26/united-nations-agency-asylum-policy

Rudd plan in tatters as camps labelled ‘gulags’ – Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 2013
www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/rudd-plan-in-tatters-as-camps-labelled-gulags
Coalition wants military led campaign against people smugglers – ABC, 25 July 2013 
www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-25/coalition-wants-military-led-campaign-against-people-smugglers
How to break the people smugglers real business model – Inside Story, 25 July 2013
www.inside.org.au/how-to-break-the-people-smugglers-real-business-model
More than a legal issue, PNG plan challenges core principles – Sydney Morning Herald, 23 July 2013
www.smh.com.au/comment/more-than-a-legal-issue-png-plan-challenges-core-principles
 
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An participant's report on Belfast Pride 2013

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Belfast Telegraph - Picture of Belfast Pride 2013Last weekend Belfast LGBT pride march was very successful, and as a Gay man i was proud to march with a poster calling for the  ‘freedom of Bradley Manning’,  a Gay man jailed in the Untied States for exposing war crimes against humanity.
Belfast pride is now the biggest LGBT pride in Ireland , while this is a victory we must remember why we are marching .  Homophobia has died down but it is not yet fully dead and until it is dead we must march with pride and stand in solidarity with the LGBT movement to kill it.
Here in the North of Ireland Gay and Bi sexual men are refused the right to give blood and blood is a much need thing to save lives , yet Gay and Bisexual men can not give blood that would save peoples lives  –  this is being seen as outright Homophobia by Health Minster Edwin Poots., and illogical in the light of measures taken in other parts of the United Kingdom.
Both the Orange order and the Catholic church stand united in their opposition to LGBT marriage.  The right of LGBT Northern Irish Citizens to marriage is a right that Stormont has blocked.
Queer bashing is still something that many LGBT people in the North of Ireland encounter, and they suffer mental heath issues which results in them taking their own lives.
Many LGBT people in the North still have a fear about coming out.  In state schools many young LGBT students face homophobic bullying which the schools do not proactively handle.  Until and unless the school system in the North Of Ireland is separated from the church , this abomination of abuse of power by the church will continue to impact on LGBT youth.
The word GAY means Good as You and we are.  Some day we shall have our liberation and no more shall Gay people live in fear  We shall over come some day.
 
Seán óg Garland