Report: Anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes surging in Germany
A government report found hate crimes against LGBTQ+ citizens in Germany have risen by 36%.
A government report, first cited by Reuters, found hate crimes against LGBTQ+ citizens in Germany have risen by 36% from 2019-2020. A total of 782 anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes were reported to police last year, with 150 of the victims experiencing acts of physical violence. In addition, the report noticed a 19.1% rise in xenophobic attacks and a 15.7% increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes.
Markus Ulrich, a spokesman for the country’s most prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group, LSVD, commented on the findings, saying: “Hate crimes against queer people have been on the rise in the past three or four years,” but suggested that LGBTQ+ people are now more likely to go to the police after experiencing a hate crime.
Interior minister, Horst Seehofer, described the report as “worrying”, but added: “Queer people feel more secure to go report these incidents to the police…In the past few years, the German police have improved the way they register these crimes and they’re more likely to label them specifically as hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people.”
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