By Bill Heaney
Hate crimes against the LGBT have been on the rise for the past five years, according to West of Scotland Tory MSP Jamie Greene.
And he asked the Holyrood parliament what the Scottish Government was doing about it.
Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “Any form of hate crime towards our LGBTI communities is completely unacceptable.
“Although the rise in recorded hate crimes may be driven by the willingness of victims to report incidents, we are not complacent and remain committed to building inclusive communities.
“We are providing more than £3 million in funding between 2021 and 2024 to tackle inequality and realise rights for LGBTI people.
“We have made in tackling prejudice and fostering community cohesion. We will continue to work with stakeholders to co-create a new hate crime strategy, to guide how we tackle hatred and prejudice in Scotland.”
Jamie Greene, pictured right, replied: “There is simply no place in Scotland for intolerance and hatred of that nature. However, with more than 7,500 incidents reported since 2014, the picture for many in the LGBTI community is often grim.
“Will the cabinet secretary commit to undertaking an analysis of the underlying causes of the stark rise in case numbers?
“Is it a rise in verbal or online abuse or—and worse—a rise in physical attacks?
“What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that Police Scotland has trained LGBTI liaison officers in all parts of Scotland to support the victims of those horrid crimes?”
Ms Robison said she would report back to parliament on that — “Police Scotland is part of the strategic partnership group on hate crime and is actively involved with other stakeholders in the development and implementation of the new hate crime strategy.
“We are committed to understanding the causes of such crimes and ensuring that we respond fully to them.
“We know that hate crime, including that related to sexual orientation, remains significantly under-reported and that it is unlikely that the figures reflect the community’s true experience.
“Involving stakeholders in developing our new hate crime strategy will help us to tackle many of the barriers that communities face in reporting incidents.”
Call somebody a name, especially if it’s related to sexual orientation and it’s a Hate Crime.
Well I call Jimmy Saville a perverted deviant who had the sexual orientation of young underage girls and dead women in the mortuary. Now given that this SNP Government are funding campaigning gn groups that want to legalise sex with twelve year old, would I be committing a Hate Crime if I called them sexual/deviants.
Seems that I would and that is the reality off this SNP Government today.