Figures show 28% rise in London anti-gay hate attacks

A month after a teenage girl was jailed for the manslaughter of a gay man, new figures have shown a rise in reported anti-gay hate attacks in London.
According to the Evening Standard, reported incidents rose by 28 per cent in the last four years.
The latest figures show 1,545 homophobic incidents reported to police in London last year. Four years ago there were 1,208 homophobic cases.
Dee Doocey, a Liberal Democrat member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, who obtained the figures, told the Standard that the rise could not just be down to better reporting.
She said: “Some of the rise may be down to an increase in reporting of incidents, but I fear this may not be the full explanation.
“It seems only now that we are starting to discover the real numbers of such serious offences.”
Racist attacks also increased from 9,617 four years ago to 10,268 last year.
Last month, 18-year-old Ruby Thomas and 20-year-old Joel Alexander were jailed for seven and six years respectively for killing 62-year-old gay man Ian Baynham as he walked through Trafalgar Square.
Thomas was given a heavier sentence because she had hurled homophobic abuse at Mr Baynham as she kicked him while he lay unconscious on the ground.



Broadcasters Sandi Toksvig and Sue Perkins introduce a two minute silence at London's Trafalgar Square at 9pm on friday 30 October 2009 as thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their friends conduct a two minute silence on behalf of those who have died as a result of gay-hate crimes.

After the two minute silence, Sue Perkins reads out the names of those who have died at the hands of homophobes over the last ten years in the UK.

The vigil was organised after the Ian Baynham, a gay man walking through the square recently, was subjected to a gay-hate attack.

The gay vigil took place at 9pm UTC in London's Trafalgar Square on Friday 30th October 2009.

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