We are not 81% touchier than we were last year

BBC News:

The number of transgender hate crimes recorded by police forces in England, Scotland and Wales has risen by 81%, latest figures suggest.

Data obtained by the BBC showed there were 1,944 crimes across 36 forces in the last financial year compared with 1,073 in 2016-17.

The figures here are based on freedom of information requests to police forces.

As the BBC analysis notes, part of the explanation may be that more trans people are coming forward. But increasing awareness of hate crime legislation and reporting applies to all LGBT+ people, not just trans people. Hate crimes against all of us are on the increase, and hate crimes against trans people are increasing disproportionately.

For example, a recent Stonewall/YouGov poll of more than 5,000 LGBT people found that 1/5 of LGBT people have experienced a hate crime or incident in the last 12 months, rising to 2 in 5 trans people. Where 1 in 10 LGBT people have experienced online abuse, that rises to 1 in 4 for trans people.

If only there were some kind of explanation for the increasing attacks on people who are constantly portrayed as deviants and predators in national, local and social media.

Incidentally, the BBC figures only reflect what gets reported to the police, not how many incidents take place or how many crimes are committed. Many of us don’t believe the police will take us seriously, or that there’s any reasonable prospect of the offender(s) being caught, let alone punished. I’m not the only trans person who’s experienced hateful incidents and decided not to report them.

Whenever trans rights are discussed on social media, someone will come along within the first few comments and demand to know “what rights don’t trans people have already?” The right to go through life without experiencing verbal and physical abuse would be a start.


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