As a gay man who has seen his friends attacked on the eve of Pride as they left an LGBTQ+ nightclub, Dr Mario Toubes-Rodrigo worries a lot these days.
The applications leader based in London has good reason to be – hate crimes based on sexual orientation have soared by 112% in the last five years.
‘I have seen within my group of friends more attacks in the last four to five years than in my entire life,’ says Mario, 35, who lives in Golders Green, north west London, tells .
And that includes Mario. Over the coronavirus pandemic, his neighbour shouted homophobic insults through his wall and from across the street daily, a campaign of harassment that ended with the man in prison two years ago.
‘For me, it was more a question of when, rather than if,’ he says.
But things are changing, statistically at least. New figures shared by the Home Office show homophobic hate crimes fell 8% between March 2023 and March this year, while violence fuelled by transphobia dropped by 2%.
Hate crimes, where a victim is targeted because of hostility or prejudice, overall fell by 5% to 140,561.
LGBTQ+ campaigners and hate crime victims say this slight drop isn’t all good news. For one, anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime in England and Wales is still higher than it was five years ago.
Between 2020 and 2021, there were 18,596 reported offences based on sexual orientation. The new data shows this has swollen to 22,839, though this is 12% down from the year ending March 2022, when 26,152 hate crimes happened.
‘For many LGBTQ+ people, encountering hate crime has sadly become a part of daily life,’ says Dan Harry, a 28-year-old presenter who was the victim of a homophobic hate crime in 2022.
Dan, who was on the UK’s first gay dating show I Kissed A Boy, was heading home from a date near London’s King’s Cross St Pancras when he noticed three men follow him on the escalators.
‘They followed me onto the platform, positioning themselves directly behind me while saying threatening homophobic slurs to me and laughing among themselves,’ Dan says.
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‘I tried to ignore it, but I could feel them nudging closer, edging me toward the platform edge as the train approached. I felt panic as it was like they were threatening to push me onto the tracks.’
Dan hopped on a carriage well away from the men. Yet the group changed carriages closer and closer to him at every stop before eventually finding Dan and lobbing more homophobic insults before departing.
‘When I finally got home, I called my mum, and hearing her upset by it actually made it worse,’ he says. ‘I tried to reassure her that I was okay, but I had to explain that this is something that sometimes happens to people in my community.’
Mario feels the same way. He doubts that anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes have actually dropped in number given the climate of bias against LGBTQ+ people becoming increasingly widespread.
‘Seeing the rhetoric, especially against trans people, is encouraging this kind of behaviour,’ he says.
The UK was once the most LGBTQ-friendly place in Europe. But since 2015, it has plummeted down to 16th, a drop campaigners chalk up to anti-trans policies like banning puberty blockers for trans youth or the lack of a conversion therapy ban.
What to do if you or someone you know is a victim of anti-LGBTQ+ violence
If you’ve experienced anti-LGBTQ+ violence or abuse, you should report the incident to your local police force.
Reports can also be made online via True Vision, a specific service for hate crimes. People can also lodge reports on the victim’s behalf.
If you need a safe space to talk, you can also phone Galop’s National LGBT+ Hate Crime Helpline. Galop is an anti-abuse charity that works with LGBTQ+ victims and survivors of violence.
The hotline is run by LGBTQ+ people, for LGBTQ+ people.
Call 0800 999 5428, email [email protected] or webchat via galop.org.uk.
‘I feel that the political climate and headlines over the past decade have exacerbated homophobia and transphobia in the UK,’ adds Dan. ‘This environment empowers those with prejudiced views to take their beliefs out of their living rooms and into public spaces.’
The key distinction in the Home Office figures is that they only cover hate crimes reported to the police. Many aren’t, says Ben Kernighan, the interim CEO of the anti-abuse charity Galop.
‘Government research showing that over 90% of anti-LGBT+ hate crimes go unreported,’ he points out.
‘Past negative experiences with reporting and low prosecution rates can deter individuals from engaging with police and misclassification of hate crimes as anti-social behaviour remains a significant issue.’
Simon Blake OBE, CEO of the queer charity Stonewall, adds that the marginal decrease in anti-LGBTQ+ offences comes amid a ‘worrying’ increase in religious hate crimes.
‘The fight against hatred is shared, so we must work together to build a society where everyone is safe and respected and free from harm,’ he says.
Within these statistics are regular people now left to live their lives.
Boarding a train is something that Dan now struggles to do. The decision by the men to harass him has made living as an openly gay man that little bit harder.
‘I had my earphones in and was just trying to mind my own business,’ Dan says. ‘All I wanted to do was get home.’
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