One third of gays and lesbians in Edinburgh physically attacked
Story corrected 3:10pm.
A third of LGBT people in Edinburgh have been physically assaulted but only 15 per cent reported incidents to police, a small survey has suggested.
The Stonewall Scotland research of just over 70 LGBT people found that 66 per cent had been verbally abused while 53 per cent did not feel safe in their neighbourhoods.
The results were published yesterday, with the full findings of a survey of 300 people across Scotland to be released in the coming weeks.
Edinburgh city council and the Community Safety Partnership are backing a new scheme to prevent homophobic attacks which uses the slogan ‘Some people are gay. Get over it’.
Stonewall Scotland director Carl Watt said: “There are too many homophobic and transphobic hate-crime attacks across Scotland. These incidents range from extreme verbal assaults all the way through to violent attacks.
“By running this campaign, the Edinburgh Community Safety Partnership is sending a strong message that these crimes will not be tolerated.”
He added: “There are many reasons why the LGBT community do not report crimes to the police.
“People told us that they were unsure about how the police would react, that they were worried about being forced to come out and, even more worryingly, many people have become used to experiencing this form of abuse day in, day out.
“We hope this campaign will encourage LGBT victims of hate crimes to come forward, and that those people who think this form of crime is acceptable will think twice.”
