Barriers to Reporting Anti-LGBT+ Hate Crime

While everyone has the right to report to the police after experiencing a hate crime, certain communities face extra barriers to accessing that type of support. It’s important to be aware of these hurdles, so you can make reporting truly accessible.

LGBT+ victims of hate crime face specific barriers that either discourage or prevent them from having their experiences acknowledged, recorded, and investigated:

• Trivialisation of abuse
• Belief that nothing will come out of it
• Concerns about consequences and escalation of violence​
• Inaccessibility of services
• Identity is often inaccurately recorded, especially for trans, non-binary, ace and bi people
• Risk of criminalisation, especially for LGBT+ people with insecure immigration status
• Poor previous experience of reporting​
• Concerns about being outed by authorities

Here are some first steps you can implement to make your service more inclusive, and improve how LGBT+ people are treated when they come to you:

• Do not assume that everyone is cisgender or heterosexual
• Introduce yourself with your pronouns and allow people to tell you theirs if they wish
• Take care not to ‘out’ anyone, deliberately or otherwise
• Consider if domestic abuse or a sexual assault may have been motivated by anti-LGBT+ hate
• Ask open questions about potential hate motivation
• Be clear that a targeted person is never responsible for the violence they receive
• Use active listening and reflect back the language used by the person you are talking to
• Continue to build knowledge on LGBT+ experiences through trainings, and community engagement
• Develop referral pathways with specialist services
• Remember that official documents do not always reflect the true gender identity of a person
• Remember to give victims regular updates, so they know that they haven’t been forgotten