Gay hate crime, including incidents of physical attacks, vandalism and verbal abuse, have almost doubled in Scotland in the last two years according to shocking new figures that have been released this week.
Statistics gathered from a freedom of information request show incidences of anti-gay abuse have almost doubled from 364 to 666 in just two years, while reported crimes have increased by five times in five years from 114 to the current figure, as reported by Scotland on Sunday.
Gay rights group Stonewall believe the figures could be even higher, as 61 per cent of those abused failed to report their incidents, while the organisation found from its own research that two thirds of gays have been verbally abused over the past year.
Carl Watt, director of Stonewall Scotland said “Over a quarter of the people attacked told us they accept abuse and attacks as part of being LGBT in Scotland”
“Having said that we have a strong message from our police forces that crimes committed against people simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity will not be tolerated.”
Ian Latimer, diversity spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, restated the police’s stance on homophobic attacks, telling the paper “Hate crime in any form is unacceptable.”
The Scottish Government spokesman stressed “There is no room for complacency in this fight.”
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