May 5, 2021
LGBTQ Related Hate Crimes Up 36% In Germany Last Year
Brendan Walker READ TIME: 1 MIN.
In 2020, hate crimes against LGBTQ people climbed a staggering 36% in Germany, emphasizing a steep rise in politically motivated violence throughout the country, according to Reuters.
German police data showed that around 780 crimes involved LGBTQ people in the country last year, with 150 being labeled as violent.
Markus Ulrich, a spokesman for Germany's biggest LGBTQ+ group LSVD, spoke to Reuters about the upward trend.
"Hate crimes against queer people have been on the rise in the past three or four years," Ulrich said. "There is a trend."
Figures revealed by the country's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) also displayed a 8.54% rise in politically motivated crimes, with violent crimes increasing by 18.8%.
Interior minister Horst Seehofer echoed Ulrich's concerns over the gradual trend in hate crimes, calling it "worrying because it consolidates a trend of recent years."
Attitudes are changing, though, with Ulrich noting that queer people may feel more comfortable reporting to the police than in the past.
"Queer people feel more secure to go report these incidents to the police, which might not have been the same in the past," he stated. "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 LGBT+ people."
