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2015 Sees Surge In Homophobic Attacks In London

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According to data from the Metropolitan police, homophobic crimes have surged by nearly a third in London in the past year.

The data comes from the force’s latest annual crime figures – which allow types of reports to be broken down by borough and by crime type.

Overall, homophobic crime has risen, year on year, 29.3% in the capital. However this may be a result of more reports of crimes, however it does signify a worrying trend.

Racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic attacks all also saw a rise – though the number of homophobic incidents recorded was nearly double those of Islamophobic crimes, and three times the number of anti-Semitic crimes.

The Met states:

A Homophobic Offence is any offence which is perceived to be homophobic by the victim or any other person, that is intended to impact upon those known or perceived to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual.”

Westminster and Vauxhall, two of London’s main LGBT areas have been revealed as having the most homophobic hate crimes reported.

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Both locations are known to home the majority of London’s LGBTI spaces. Crimes in Westminster have soared 23% while in Lambeth, which homes Vauxhall’s gay scene, anti-gay crimes have risen 25%.

When Hackney, which homes another important LGBTI centre (Shoreditch) is included in the number of crimes reported up to July 2015 rises to 406 – over 1 crime per day.

Of course these figures do not reflect the true scale of the problem – as many crimes against LGBTI’s go unreported. Research from University of Leicester’s Centre for Hate Studies reveals that 88 per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people had experienced some form of hate incident and that over 35,000 of these crimes go unreported across the UK.

Shockingly some boroughs have seen increases of up to 217% (Bromley) and 185% in Croydon. Almost every borough has seen an increase of anti-gay crimes.

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