Kirsty Mckenzie
The number of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in Andalucia soared 20%, according to a report.
New figures obtained by the Andalusian Observatory reveal that the number of reported homophobic hate crime cases is at the highest it has been since the Observatory was founded in 2017.
In the past year, there has been a 20% rise in reports to police of homophobic hate crime, with the total number 419 of anti-LGBT attacks registered in last last 12 months, compared to 349 in 2019.
While this increase could reflect a greater confidence in reporting such crimes, President of Andalucía Diversity Antonio Ferre warned that still only six in every ten alleged attacks are reported to the authorities.
He said the group had seen a rise in people experiencing such hate crimes and the lack of police involvement means there is a ‘problem’ getting justice for victims.
The figures showed that seven in attacks against LGBT people are committed by men and abuse includes any violence, hate crime or incident that discriminates against someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Verbal aggression was the most common crime, followed by hate speech, harassment and violence and gay men were most likely to be victims, compared to any other memeber of the LQBTQ community.
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