Toxic intolerance: No time for complacency as homophobic attacks rise

(Rex)

In the not-quite half-century since homosexual acts in private were legalised in most of the UK, we have seen a transformation in the fortunes of what we now call the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

Where once police officers would entrap innocent men in absurd “cottaging” operations, gay marriage is a celebrated and accepted fact of romantic life in a more liberalised, and more civilised, society.

And yet the number of homophobic attacks in England and Wales increased by almost a quarter last year, according to the Home Office. As the latest statistics demonstrate, 5,597 fellow citizens were assaulted for no other reason than their perceived sexual preferences.

Given the scale of under-reporting of such offences, especially of the more minor acts of verbal abuse, which can nonetheless be deeply hurtful and disturbing, the true scale of verbal and physical homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and other phobias is likely to be far higher. A total of 52,528 hate crimes were recorded, more than 80 per cent of which were motivated by racial prejudice.

The increase in recorded crime may be partly because more people are willing to come forward and complain, and, in due course, defy and confront their assailants. But the size of the jump suggests that, in pockets of society, we are not as tolerant a society as we would like to think. Complacency is usually a terminal weakness in the fight for equality, and no one should have any doubt that the fight is far from won.

That is also true of gender, age and race discrimination, and, much less noticed, on the grounds of class, too. The Prime Minister, in his well-received speech last week, declared his intention to seek victory on a broad front in the war against prejudice and unfair discrimination across the land. He will need every ally he can find.