Homophobic crimes are on the rise in London. As shocking figures reveal they’ve increased by a third in only a year.
Scotland Yard’s annual crime statistics show that reports of homophobic crimes rose from 1,289 in July 2014 to 1,667 in the 12 months leading up to July this year.
That’s a huge increase, and is incredibly unsettling.
BROKEN EYE SOCKET | BEATEN UP CRIME? BEING GAY http://t.co/2Jt8r07TAE THESE KINDS OF ATTACK IN LONDON UP 30% pic.twitter.com/OrdPP57xkN
— THE FRONT PAGES (@Independent_SCO) September 7, 2015
Commenting on the statistics to the Evening Standard, a spokeswoman from LGBT charity Stonewall said:
“we’ve seen some particularly violent examples of calculated homophobic attacks across London as of late – often in areas considered particularly inclusive like Soho, Shoreditch and Vauxhall. What this tells us is that we can never predict where a homophobic, biphobic or transphobic hate crime will take place, whether in London or not.”
The London borough that has seen the biggest increase in homophobic crimes is Bromley, which has seen a shocking 217% increase.
There have been many homophobic hate crimes that have hit the headlines and shocked the LGBT community over the past year. One of the most striking was the repulsive attack on a group of gay men who had acid sprayed in their faces outside The Lightbox club in Vauxhall, in June 2014. While most recently Jean Michel Touche was hospitalised after he suffered an attack in which homophobic slurs were shouted at him.
This man, Jean Michel Touche, was the victim of a homophobic attack yesterday which left him with a broken eye socket among other injuries.
— Wee Albet (@Weealbet) September 7, 2015
