SCOTLAND has seen an “unacceptable” rise in the number of hate crimes recorded against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people over the last six years.
Since 2014, Scots have been abused due to their sexual orientation more than 7500 times, while the number of hate crimes relating to transgender identity doubled between 2014 and 2020.
Scottish Conservative shadow social justice secretary Jamie Green has branded the data shameful and has urged ministers to provide the police with more resources to help them tackle the problem and support victims.
According to Scottish Government data, there has been a 27 per cent rise in the number of hate crimes, aggravated by sexual orientation or transgender identity in the six years from 2014, going from 1169 incidents to 1597 by 2019/20.
Transgender hate crimes have also doubled in the same period, rising from 48 to 96 over the period.
In response to a parliamentary question from Mr Greene, Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison provided data on LGBT hate crimes, which also showed incidents becoming more violent.
In 2014/15, 75 per cent (842) of hate crimes against people’s sexual orientation were recorded as either common or serious assault, or as threatening or abusive behaviour.
By 2019/20, this had risen to 85% (1255) of the total number of sexual orientation-based hate crime.
Ms Robison cited a Scottish government study from February last year which examined the characteristics of police-recorded hate crime, and said: “In the vast majority (94%) of sexual orientation aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the gay and lesbian community.
“In over two-thirds (69%) of crimes the words used or actions taken by the perpetrator showed a prejudice towards the gay community, with a further quarter (25%) showing prejudice towards the lesbian community.”
Mr Greene said the figures were “deeply alarming and totally unacceptable.”
He added: “A 12% rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation in the space of 12 months – and an increase for the fifth year running – is very depressing.
“It’s 2021, and yet LGBT+ people in Scotland are experiencing more verbal and physical abuse, not less.
“We’re constantly being told that attitudes towards sexuality are becoming more tolerant and progressive, yet these figures tell the opposite story.”
The MSP for West Scotland said that while some elements of society are showing progression when it comes to same-sex couples, the data reveals a different picture for many people
He continued: “It’s great seeing a same-sex couple on Strictly Come Dancing at primetime on a Saturday evening, yet at the same time LGBT+ people are experiencing more bigotry than ever.
“Clearly, the SNP Government needs to do more to ensure youngsters are better educated on sexuality and tolerance to prevent prejudice developing, as it can have a terrible impact on the mental, as well as physical, wellbeing of LGBT+ individuals.
“I know Police Scotland treat crimes aggravated by homophobia very seriously – not least because their officers are on the receiving end of many of them – but they require the resources to do so. A real-terms cut to capital funding by the SNP Government in the latest budget does nothing to help their efforts.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said ministers were “committed to advancing equality for LGBTI people, and promoting, protecting and realising the rights of every LGBTI person in Scotland.”
He added that £3m had already been given to organisations promoting LGBTI equality, and said Scotland became the first country in the world to "embed LGBT inclusive education right across the curriculum."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article