Nearly 340 LGBTQ+ hate crimes recorded in Beds and Herts this year
Nationally, LGBTQ+ hate crimes rose sharply after lockdown
The number of reports of homophobic and transphobic hate crime offences in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have been revealed.
New analysis shows Bedfordshire Police**** recorded 132 sexual orientation hate crimes from January to August 2021.
That compares with 138 in 2019 and 160 in 2020.
Some 23 transphobic hate crimes were recorded in 2019, that dropped to 21 in 2020 and then again to 14 in January to August this year.
The highest number of sexual orientation hate crimes in a calendar month across this period was 21 in May 2021; for transphobic hate crimes it was five in March 2020.
Meanwhile, a total of 64 violence against the person sexual orientation hate crimes were recorded in Bedfordshire in 2019, with 72 in 2020 and 67 from January to August 2021.
There were 14 violent transphobic hate crimes recorded in 2019, 16 in 2020 and seven in January-August 2021.
The highest number of violent sexual orientation hate crimes in a calendar month was 12 in March 2019 and both February and March 2021; for violent transphobic hate crimes it was four in November 2020.
Meanwhile, Hertfordshire's police force recorded 160 sexual orientation hate crimes from January to August this year, which compares with 200 in 2020 and 203 in 2019.
Some 22 transphobic hate crimes were recorded in 2019.
That number rose to 32 in 2020 and 30 in January-August 2021.
The highest number of sexual orientation hate crimes in a calendar month across this period was 28 in August 2019; for transphobic hate crimes it was six in March 2020, September 2020, November 2020 and July 2021.
A total of 105 violence against the person sexual orientation hate crimes were recorded in 2019.
That number dropped to 77 in 2020, but rose again to 97 from January to August 2021.
There were 16 violent transphobic hate crimes recorded in 2019, 24 in 2020 and 21 in January-August 2021.
The highest number of violent sexual orientation hate crimes in a calendar month was 17 in July 2020; for violent transphobic hate crimes it was five in March 2020, September 2020 and November 2020.
Full data was either not supplied or not available for the Thames Valley police force.
Nationally at least 14,670 sexual orientation hate crime offences were recorded from January to August 2021 across the UK, compared with 11,841 in the same period of 2020 and 10,817 in 2019.
While offences averaged 1,456 a month from January to April this year, they jumped to 2,211 on average from May to August.
There is a similar trend for transphobic offences, which averaged 208 a month from January to April, but 324 for May to August.
The figures were obtained by the PA news agency, based on freedom of information responses from 37 of 46 police forces.
However, many cases of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes during that period were under-reported.
LGBTQ+ people "still at risk of attack because of who we are"
Charity Stonewall described the rise as "worrying" and said the figures are a "stark reminder" that LGBTQ+ people are "still at risk of attack because of who we are".
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) strongly encouraged victims to come forward and said officers are highly trained and will "treat everyone with respect and dignity and handle cases sensitively".
Details from the figures:
- -24 forces recorded their highest monthly number of homophobic offences since the start of 2019 during the period May-August 2021
- -Some 2,129 transphobic offences were recorded in January to August this year - well above the equivalent period in 2019 (1,602) and 2020 (1,606)
- -At least 6,985 homophobic hate crimes classed as violence against the person were recorded from January-August 2021 - almost matching the whole of 2019 (7,078) and close to the 2020 total (7,944)
- -Violent transphobic crimes are also on course to exceed previous years, with at least 1,207 recorded to August 2021 compared with 1,216 and 1,354 for all of 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Leni Morris, chief executive of Galop, the LGBT+ anti-abuse charity, said it launched its hate crime helpline in February 2021 "because we saw a real impact on the community from the pandemic itself".
She said same-sex couples were more visible when out in public during periods of restrictions, and others faced "escalating violence" when locked down with homophobic or transphobic neighbours.
"We have some people who were victims of abuse and attacks because of being blamed for the pandemic itself, either because perpetrators thought the pandemic was an act of God - because of the existence of LGBT+ people - or because of the community's association with the last major pandemic in people's minds, and that's the HIV Aids pandemic."