National Hate Crime Awareness Week remembers LGBTQ+ victims

An annual act of hope and remembrance has put the spotlight on the LGBTQ+ victims of hate.

Organised by the charity 17-24-30 National Hate Crime Awareness Week, the event was held at Regent Hall, in central London, on Sunday (13 October).

The event, which marks the start of a week of awareness, remembered 10 victims of anti-LGBTQ+-related murders in London between 1990 and 2002, and noted that this year is the 25th anniversary of the nail bomb attacks in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho in April 1999. Those incidents, on the 17th, 24th and 30th of the month, led to the creation of the London LGBT+ Independent Advisory Group.

The bomber, David Copeland, was given six life sentences in June 2000 for three counts of murder and three of causing explosions in order to endanger life. A High Court judge set a minimum term of 50 years and the Court of Appeal upheld that sentence in 2011.

Mark Healey, the founder of National Hate Crime Awareness Week, told the audience: “Every year, [we aim] to raise awareness of hate crime, encourage reporting and urge the government, police and councils, key partners and community groups to unite to tackle hate crime.

“I founded the week to mark the anniversary of the nail bomb attacks on Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho. Since then, it has evolved to be a vital week of action to remember and support those affected by hate crime and raise awareness of what needs to be done to end hate.”

Stonewall chief executive Simon Blake said: “While the Home Office’s latest statistics show overall hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community is falling, many still don’t feel safe and able to report hate,” he said. “A recent survey showed that only one in eight people reported their experiences of anti-LGBTQ+ hate to the police. We all deserve better.

“As we remember those affected by hate crime, we continue to push for urgent change, including asking the government to fulfil its pledge to make anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime an aggravated offence.

“A rise in hatred towards one marginalised group is harmful to everyone. By working together and standing hand-in-hand against hate, and reporting it whenever it occurs, we can build a society where everyone feels safe, respected and free to be themselves.” 

The awareness week “reminds us that too many people face hate crime because of who they are”, he added.

Hate crime ‘has a corrosive effect across society’

The latest hate crime figures, published by the government on Thursday (10 October), showed that in the year ending March 2024, there were 22,839 reported hate crimes involving a person’s sexual orientation, and 4,780 transphobic crimes.

Compared with the previous year, that represented a drop of eight per cent in crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation, while offences against trans people fell by two per cent. While there was a five per cent decrease overall, religious hate crimes rose by 25 per cent, which the Home Office believe could have been driven by increased antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Commenting on the figures, Blake said a “rise in hatred towards one marginalised group has a corrosive effect across society”.

The Home Office defines a hate crime as “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic”.

Those characteristics include race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity.

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