SCOTLAND – According to recent figures, homophobic crime has risen by up to 90 percent in some of Scotland’s regions.
The new statistics have led equality groups to demand that the Scottish Executive extend “hate crime” legislation to the LGBT community. Campaigners believe the findings show that homophobia is still a major problem in Scotland.
Stonewall Scotland Director Ali Jarvis said, “We need to change opinions as well as the legal framework. The casual nature of homophobia illustrates how commonplace it is up here.”
Figures show that there were 666 reported incidents in 2009-10, a substantial increase from 2004-5, when just 114 incidents were reported. According to the Sunday Herald, numbers doubled in the last two years, as 364 incidents were reported in 2007-8.
The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request and detail violent attacks, vandalism, abuse and indecent assaults.
Stonewall Scotland says that the majority of LGBT Scottish people have suffered hate crime. Figures from the charity’s 2010 Community Safety Survey show that two-thirds of LGBT people have been verbally abused while a third have been physically attacked. However, 61 percent of those physically attacked did not tell police and a quarter of those who suffered verbal abuse said they would not report it as it is a “part of life.”
Carl Watt, Director, Stonewall Scotland, said, “Too many people in Scotland experience hate crimes – and many don’t report it, because they think it won’t make a difference or because it happens on such a regular basis. A quarter told us they accept the abuse and the attacks as part of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender in Scotland.”
