Senior politicians are 'fuelling hate crime' against transgender people says LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop

Transphobic narratives in the media and by senior politicians have been allowed to grow without challenge and are translating into ‘violence against our community’, LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop warned.

The charity was responding to Home Office figures which show police recorded hate crimes motivated by transgender identity rose by 56 per cent in a year.

There were 4,355 such crimes recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March 2022, up from 2,799 in the previous 12 months.

The overall number of hate crimes recorded by police rose 26 per cent in that period to 155,841, a new record high.

The figures come days after the Home Secretary and Fareham MP Suella Braverman accused Sussex Police of ‘playing identity politics and denying biology’ around sexual offences committed by a transgender woman years before transitioning.

Ms Braverman waded into a Twitter row after the force said it would not ‘tolerate any hateful comments’ about gender identity ‘regardless of crimes committed.’

It later apologised saying the comment was ‘inconsistent with our usual style of engagement’ and had been deleted.

Ms Braverman said the force should ‘focus on catching criminals not policing pronouns’ after Sally Ann Dixon, from Leigh Park, Havant, was jailed for 20 years for 30 indecent assaults against five girls and two boys in the 1980s and 1990s when she was John Stephen Dixon.

Some people on social media objected to the force referring to Dixon in the headline of its press release as a woman convicted of the crimes.

Galop’s chief executive Leni Morris said: ‘Transphobic narratives in the media, and at a senior political level, have been allowed to grow unregulated, unchecked, and unchallenged.

‘That translates into violence against our community – particularly for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people.

‘Let us be clear – there is a direct line between words and violent acts against our community, and always has been.’

She said hate crimes against LGBT+ people receive ‘far lower’ sentencing lengths than other forms of hate crime, and legislation proposed to make people safer, such as the ban on conversion therapy, is no longer proposing to cover trans people.

‘Combined with a growing hostile atmosphere for our community in the media and public life, this is giving a message to those who would do us harm that this is acceptable in this country,’ she added.

Nancy Kelley, the chief executive of Stonewall, described the figures as ‘deeply worrying’ and added: ‘These figures are another reminder that the constant drumbeat of anti LGBTQ+ sentiment in media and politics has a human cost.’

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Hate crime is a scourge on communities across the country.

‘It does not reflect the values of modern Britain.

‘While the rise in cases is likely to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, these can be serious crimes such as assault and we cannot be complacent.

‘We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.’