95 per cent rise in fear of LGBT hate crimes among students

37 per cent of LGBT students say they worry about falling victim to hate crime as a result of their sexual orientation, according to new data published by YouGov.

This figure is a 95 per cent increase on last year’s result of 19 per cent.

The data was accumulated through a survey commissioned by Emerald Life, an insurance provider for Britain’s LGBT community.

Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of LGBT students revealed that they also worry about being subjected to hate crimes at work due to their sexual orientation – a doubling of last year’s figure.

Cai Wilshaw, founder of LGBT Leaders, said: “These statistics, while shocking, are wholly unsurprising.

“This year has been a challenging one for the LGBT community – the shooting in Orlando struck in a place where LGBT youth felt safe to be themselves, and political rhetoric during the US election campaign as well as the EU Referendum has many minority groups increasingly fearful for their safety.

“On campus, students need universities and student unions to take a firm no-tolerance stance on hate crime of any form, and a commitment to increasing vital student support services and funding for LGBT societies who do so much valuable welfare work.”

The YouGov results come in the wake of research published by Galop, an LGBT anti-violence charity, which revealed that homophobic attacks in the UK rose 147 per cent in the three months following the EU Referendum.