Hate Crime on the Rise in Britain

[marshlander]

Police forces have been reporting a rise in homophobic hate crime. Scotland Yard suggests a 9% rise whilst in Greater Manchester the figure has gone up by a staggering 63% in the year to April.

Acting Detective Superintendent Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan police, who led a recent operation against hate crime, said: "Homophobia cannot be considered a thing of the past, it's on the increase."

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Be careful out there, folks :frown:

[mr_21]

I know this is two weeks old but stil....

It does really annoy me why people are so pethetic.

I mean men enjoy watching two woman having sex, kissing blah blah blah yet if it two men then they become homophobic.

Althou i strongly beleive homophobic will always be part of our society to here there is a rise is rather worrying.

Althou i will not change or worry it makes me think what the police forces in this country is doing to help stop or should i say help reduce homophobia crime.

I feel the police are not doing enough or anything at all to help tacked such a crime, i also strongly feel that there are many police officers who are homophobic themselves.

I just wish the goverment took steps into rethinking on what could be done in helping reduce homophobic crime and make penalties stronger.

Such crime could leave to devastating effects, this has already been proven when i remember hearing young boys being killed because of there sexuality.

Problem with this country is todays news is history by tomorrow and people tend to forget it which leads to nothing being done.

What is more concerning is Manchester being a large city that has a dedicated area in it city Canal Street for gay people to go for the night out althou obviously anyone can go makes me think how more dangerous it could be in that area.

I been to canal street once when i lived 15 miles from there and i loved it, no problems at all, but only visiting once is different to someone who may go regulary.

I just hope some action and rethinking is done in the near future, i strongly feel our goverment is letting us down, not only gay people but everyone else to.

[marshlander]

Thank you, mr_21, for taking the trouble to respond. I had hoped we might have been able to have some discussion on this important issue Still two weeks is better than never!

It's too easy to blame the government. It's not strictly "the government's" fault that homophobic crime exists. As you rightly say, it has always been there. Crimes against the individual are always the fault of the perpetrator. It is clear that some governments and public institutions do actually encourage hatred of lgbt people, whether by commission or omission. As I seem to have mentioned several times before, this government has actually done more than any other in British history to introduce laws entitling us to the same rights as others. It has also introduced the loading in terms of sentencing when crimes against the person can be shown to have involved homophobia. This government has also seen the erosion of personal rights and freedoms of all of us in very stark terms (see the Liberty website) and I believe there is also a case to answer that the Government is actually over-legislating in many areas where personal choice has traditionally worked well enough. If being caught on surveillance camera three hundred times a day doesn't deter homophobic criminals it may be that the Big Brother ideal doesn't actually work.

[woodchip50]

was with bf yesterday, kissing in rain, in park, in public. because he knows how much i love the rain. and how i find heavy rain so fucking darn well romantic! (seriously! with the wet hair too! am i right? haha!)

anyway,
group of kids came along. not really kids. all older than the two of us.
started verbally abusing us. it means nothing to me; to the extent i dont have to laugh it off because there is nothing to laugh off! but my poor monkey is not used to 'being gay' in public. and he couldn't deal with it. he responded. wasn't good.

and it REALLY pissed me off as i pushed him to kiss me in public, which i shouldn't have done tbh but it was more of a development thing tbh, but yeah he chanced it, and this happens.

then they threw rocks at us. and he was too flustered and we had to leave.

first act against me i could actually class as homophobic.

[matty7]

woodship50 - that sucks that those idiots had a go at u both, what really bugs me is that they wouldn't have said a word if they walked past u on their own, hope it doesn't put your bf off been effectionate out in public too much mate.

[woodchip50]

oh no it didn't ^_^

i made sure of that!
i am excellent at giving advice normally. and as of such i helped him calm down and averted his fears.

then after a coffee we found another place every so slightly more secluded and comfortable. and made it our mission to make any who walked past as uncomfortable as possible! MWAHAHAHA!

[sox-and-the-city]

I got proper hassled by a junkie today and he started calling me a faggot when he clocked i wasn't gonna give hiom any money. More to do with heroin than homophobia though, i suspect, and at least this one didn't chase me anywhere.

Aberdeen junkies are even scarier than our freakishly large seagulls!!

Homophobia is rife here, but it tends to be amongst a certain group of people *cough* neds *cough*. Imagine that