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Hate crimes: one in five gay people suffer homophobic attacks
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Police forensic teams search Clapham Common following the fatal homophobic attack on Jody Dobrowski in 2005. Photograph: David Levene
One in five lesbian and gay people have been victims of homophobic aggression over the past three years, a survey of hate crime revealed today.
Their experiences ranged from beatings and sexual assault to persistent harassment and insults, often from neighbours and colleagues.
The gay rights charity Stonewall said the lives of Britain's 3.6 million lesbian and gay people were overshadowed by the fear of homophobic crime.
It commissioned YouGov to carry out the first comprehensive national survey into the problem, questioning more than 1,700 lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
The poll found a homophobic crime or incident had been experienced by 12.5% over the past year and 20% over the past three years.
One in six of the victims had been physically assaulted and one in eight had been subjected to unwanted sexual contact. Almost nine in 10 had experienced homophobic insults and harassment.
Three-quarters of the victims had not reported the incident to the police, often because they did not think the complaint would be investigated.
Only 1% of hate crimes that were reported to the police resulted in a conviction. Two-thirds of victims who reported incidents to the police were not offered advice or referred to support services.
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, congratulated the charity for undertaking "this timely research".
She said: "We are determined that lesbian and gay people should have the confidence to report crimes to the police knowing they will be taken seriously, the crime investigated and their privacy respected."
She said the findings of the poll would be considered by the ministerial action group on violence, which is investigating further action on hate crimes.
The charity was prompted to commission the poll by the murder of Jody Dobrowski, a 24-year-old assistant bar manager who was beaten to death in a homophobic assault on Clapham Common, south London, in 2005.
Almost half the lesbian and gay people in the survey thought they were at greater risk of being physically assaulted than a heterosexual. One third said they altered their behaviour so as not to appear lesbian or gay in an attempt to avoid becoming a victim of crime.
One in 10 said being a victim of crime was their biggest worry, more than being ill or having financial debts.
The survey showed lesbian and gay people were more likely to report crimes in areas where the police were gay-friendly employers. Hampshire, South Wales and Lothian were praised for taking homophobic hate crimes seriously.
Stonewall said all police officers should be trained to recognise homophobic hate crimes. Other recommendations included stronger action against homophobic bullying in schools and a zero-tolerance policy against bullying in the workplace.
Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, said: "This was the first statistically significant national survey into the extent and nature of homophobic hate crime. The experiences it has uncovered are shocking. We hope the whole criminal justice system will now rise to the challenges that this research poses."
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said the findings would help the police improve the service.
Mike Cunningham, the deputy chief constable of Lancashire and Acpo's spokesman on equality, said: "It cannot be acceptable that a third of victims do not report incidents to the police because they do not think the police would, or could, do anything about it. Neither is it right that two thirds of those who reported incidents to the police were not offered or referred to advice or support services. The findings offer the service a real opportunity to make real improvements."
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