Transphobic Hate Crime Rises

Police Forces across the UK, including some of the local forces, have revealed a rise in Transphobic Hate Crime following a Freedom of Information release to the Press Association.

Eleven forces revealed they recorded more transphobic hate crimes between January and November than the whole of 2013 which included Avon and Somerset Police recording 38 transgender hate crimes between January and November, up from 22 in 2013 and 12 in 2012. Gloucestershire police also saw transphobic hate crimes rise between January and November compared to last year.

It was found that victims were subjected to assaults, verbal abuse and harassment on the street, but there are fears the number of offences could be much higher after a leading charity warned crimes against transgender people were “massively under-reported”.

Serge Nicholson, from the charity Galop, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, said transphobic hate crimes recorded by police were a “tiny fraction of the true number”.

“A third of trans people in the UK go through transphobic abuse every year,” he said. “That’s the second highest of any EU country. Yet only a few hundred transphobic crimes get recorded by the police each year. That has got to be a tiny fraction of the true number.”