Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support LGBTQ+ young people who have been victims of (1) transphobic, and (2) racist, abuse.

The Government has made it clear that 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.

As part of the 2018 refresh and LGBT Action Plan the same year, the Government committed to a public awareness campaign to address the unacceptability of all hate crimes, and to a Law Commission review of the adequacy of current hate crime legislation. 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.

The Government will continue to work with the police, stakeholders including Galop and Stonewall and others to understand the concerns of LGBTQ+ communities and what should be done to address those concerns.