Calls for Hate-Crime Rethink as Anti-Gay Offences Soar

Homophobic crime is rising in many parts of Scotland, according to alarming figures which show that attacks on gays and lesbians have increased by as much as 100 per cent in the past year. The figures obtained by The Scotsman have triggered fresh criticism of the Executive’s decision last month not to extend the definition of hate crimes to include homophobia. In the Lothian and Borders region, police have revealed that 30 homophobic offences have been recorded this year, compared with 37 for the whole of 2005. In 2003, just 19 incidents were recorded.

In Strathclyde, 128 crimes and 16 “non-crime incidents” were recorded in 2005-6, against 113 and 25 the previous year, and only 40 and ten in 2003-4 – a rise of more than 200 per cent in three years. Such crimes included serious assault, threats and extortion, indecent assault, vandalism and breach of the peace.

In Dumfries and Galloway, the number of recorded homophobic crimes and incidents, from physical assaults to verbal abuse, doubled from 20 in 2004-5 to 40 last year.

Over the past three years, recorded homophobic crimes and incidents have soared by about 150 per cent.

Senior officers said the figures showed they were “mining a seam of homophobia” in the country’s towns and cities, although the rising numbers were said to be partly explained at least by an increased willingness by police to record such crimes.

They also warned that laws protecting the expression of religious beliefs were being used as a cover to espouse homophobic views.

Chief Inspector George Denholm, of Lothian and Borders Police, who is responsible for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues at the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said: “There is a huge level of under-reporting. The figures look like the problem is running out of control, but I think at least part of the reason for the increase is because the police are building more trust with the gay community.”

A study published earlier this year revealed that almost one in ten victims of homophobic attacks in Aberdeen failed to report incidents to the police.

David Lyle, Scottish co-ordinator for the Gay Police Association, said human rights legislation that allowed people to express religious views freely was being used to perpetrate attacks on gay people.

He said: “If you replace the word ‘gay’ with ‘black’ in these verbal attacks, there would – quite rightly – be a massive outcry. But it seems perfectly possible to abuse gay people and hide behind the supposed shield of ‘because it’s my religious belief’.”

Mr Lyle added that people were also suffering a backlash from religious groups to recent laws allowing so-called gay marriages and proposals to allow adoption by gay couples, a phenomenon Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of Scotland’s Catholics, has described as a “distorted social experiment”.

Research suggests that gay men and lesbians in the UK are four times more likely than heterosexuals to be the victims of a violent assault. But, despite that, ministers decided against extending the law on aggravated offences to cover homophobia, as well as racism and sectarianism.

Calum Irving, director of the gay rights group Stonewall Scotland, said: “These alarming figures show that the Scottish Executive should be legislating in this area. They are talking about consistency of sentencing, but this leaves Scotland the only part of the UK that doesn’t have statutory aggravation on the basis of sexual orientation.”