Germany is failing to adequately protect queer people from a sharp rise in hate crime, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group LSVD+ said ahead of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
“Within just a few years, the number of anti-queer hate crimes has increased nearly tenfold. Every single case is shameful for a free society,” LSVD+ board member Andre Lehmann said.
Lehmann accused German authorities of a “failure of the state in security policy” and said the government was not doing enough to guarantee the safety of queer people.
The group is calling for an amendment to Article 3 of Germany’s constitution, which prohibits discrimination, to explicitly include queer people. Lehmann said they remained the only group persecuted under National Socialism not to be specifically named in the constitution.
Figures from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office show that crimes linked to sexual orientation and gender diversity have risen almost tenfold since 2010. In May 2025, the agency said offences included insults, violent attacks, incitement and threats.
“The sense of safety and freedom of millions of people in this country is at risk,” Lehmann said.
In Berlin, counselling centre Maneo said this week it recorded 723 cases and reports of hostility against queer people last year. The incidents ranged from online abuse to attacks and harassment on the street, at home, at work, in schools and within families.
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