Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what legislative and other steps she is proposing to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crimes in the UK ahead of the UK’s Safe To Be Me international LGBT+ conference in 2022.

All forms of abuse and hatred are unacceptable.

The UK has a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes, which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity. The Government published the hate crime action plan (Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime) in 2016 and refreshed this Plan in October 2018.

The Government has commissioned a Law Commission review of the adequacy of current hate crime legislation. The review will report this year and we will respond to it when it is complete.

Also, the Home Office has funded multiple projects aimed at tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime including:

• Kick It Out, who produced resources to raise awareness of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse in football stadia;
• Barnardo’s, who worked with schools in East Ridings of Yorkshire to promote understanding of LGBT lives and prevent homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime;
• Galop, who produced and distributed a series of factsheets and research to understand tackle online homophobic, biphobic and transphobic abuse; and
• The Proud Trust who worked with the British Transport Police and rail companies to make public transport safer for LGBT people and encourage the reporting of hate crime.

Government action to tackle broader discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people includes:

• A commitment to holding an international conference on LGBT rights in 2022.
• Announced a further £3.2 million of UK-funded projects in September 2020 to help Commonwealth Governments and civil society groups reform outdated laws and end the legacy of discrimination and violence.
• The DfE announced £750k of funding in June 2020, including a project for victims of hate-related bullying.
• We will bring forward legislation to ban conversion therapy as soon as parliamentary time allows and we will make new funds available to ensure that victims have better access to the support they need.

The Government will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, including Galop and Stonewall, to ensure that these actions are having a positive impact on the range of LGBTQ+ communities affected by hate crime and wider discrimination.