Reports of LGBT-phobic discrimination up by 247% in 5 years

There has been an astonishing 247% increase in police reports filed for LGBT-phobic discrimination in Catalonia in only five years according to data made public by the police on Wednesday.

In 2021, there were three and half more complaints of homophobia and transphobia filed than in 2016, the Catalan Mossos d'Esquadra police force reported.

"Crimes targeting the LGBT community have grown exponentially," officer Monsterrat Escudé said. 

Last year they also saw a 26% rise in hate and discrimination reports in general on 2020 figures, although there were still fewer than right before the pandemic, with 524 reported in 2019 and 540 in 2018. All in all, however, these only account for 0.1% of all crimes investigated by the Mossos in 2021. 

Just under half of the 496 incidents that were investigated in 2021, 44%, were for LGBT-phobia, while slightly below a third were for racism and a fifth had been filed for political discrimination.

Almost 80% of all crimes were reported in the Barcelona area, followed far behind by Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona.

Almost three out of every four cases police looked into last year, 72.5%, ended in either the arrest or the investigation of the perpetrator, which happened 116 and 330 times respectively, while a staggering 19% of offenders were underage. 

Workshops in schools

Given the high percentage of underage perpetrators, police have begun to carry out workshops and talks in schools in an attempt to reduce crime among younger people.

While 7,599 students have already attended activities put on by the Mossos, another 190 from 37 different schools will also receive training to encourage bullied students to reach out to their Hate Crimes Office.