Hate crime up as protests at schools go on

PROTESTS outside Birmingham primary schools demanding an end to LGBT awareness teaching have coincided with the biggest spike yet in complaints about homophobic hate crime.

A total of 395 homophobic hate incidents were reported to West Midlands Police in the five months from March to the end of July.

That was nearly double the number in the previous five months.

The trend was described as “disturbing” by the police officer who leads on LGBT related crime incidents, constable Gary Stack.

“There has definitely been change in people’s attitudes.

“We are currently seeing a huge spike in homophobic hate crime reports, which coincided with when the protests started outside schools.

“A good number of those will be directly linked to the protests, others will be increased confidence in saying certain things,” he said.

There has also been a significant – though less dramatic – increase in all hate crimes. The vast majority of hate crimes are linked to race.

In the year to early April, there were 5,770 hate crimes of all types – up from 4,686 in the previous year.

Protests have taken place outside Parkfield Community Primary in Alum Rock and Anderton Park Primary in Sparkhill, since the start of the year, led by parents and campaigners concerned that lower primary age children are ‘too young’ to learn about the existence and equality of LGBT people. The incidents h a v e prompted huge media interest and become a

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step national talking point. There has been confusion among witnesses to the protests about where the line should be drawn between fair comment, freedom of speech and hate crime.

A hate crime is any criminal offence that is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s actual or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability.

A hate incident is a non-crime event, for example, insults, criticism or other examples of free speech; or some forms of anti social behaviour.

West Midlands Police are still reviewing a large amount of material, including pictures and video, relating to recent protests at Anderton Park School. To date there have been no arrests or charges.

Andrew Moffat, assistant head teacher at Parkfield School, who is openly gay, has said: “I have never experienced homophobia like I have in the last six months.

“The protests have given a licence to those people that think it is okay to shout abuse.

“I think it is becoming acceptable to stand outside and chant ‘ shame’ about a gay teacher.”

Mr Moffat said he has reported a significant number of offences targeting him – both at school and online – to the police.

He said: “People are seeing that this is happening and they are not seeing a strong, robust response from the Department for Education or from anyone in fact.

“I am really concerned that there is a culture developing where hate crime is becoming acceptable.”