Violence and Harassment Against Gay Men and Lesbians

Violence and harassment against gay men and lesbians has been an issue of growing concern in Australia since the late 1980s. While violence and discrimination against homosexuals was not a new phenomenon, an organised response to it by activist groups and government agencies is. In New South Wales, the Gay and Lesbian Right Lobby produced the Streetwatch Report (Cox 1990), which highlighted the nature of harassment and violence experienced in the everyday lives of gay men and lesbians. One recommendation of this report was to set-up an organisation dedicated to monitoring and addressing issues on violence, the Lesbian and Gay Anti-violence Project (AVP).

In Victoria, the group Gay Men and Lesbians Against Discrimination produced a report, Not a Day Goes By, which found that of the 1002 people surveyed (492 women and 510 men):

70% of lesbians and 69% of gay men reported being verbally abused, threatened or bashed in a public space [at some time]. Bashing alone had been experienced by 11% of lesbians and 20% of gay men. (Gay Men and Lesbians Against Discrimination (GLAD) 1994, p. 5)

These figures highlight the extent to which lesbians and gay men were harassed and physically assaulted due to homosexuality.

Similar results were found in New South Wales from the Out of the Blue survey conducted by the New South Wales Police Service in 1994 (Sandroussi & Thompson 1995). Of the 259 respondents 57% had experienced some form of personal or property crime or harassment in the twelve month leading up to the survey, with 12% of lesbians and 14% of gay men experiencing physical assault (Sandroussi & Thompson 1995, p. 8). Not surprisingly, the level of fear of being attacked was very high, with 90% of these gay men and lesbians being ?very concerned? that they or their friends might be assaulted. This figure was far higher than that found in a survey of the general community where 56% of people were concerned or very concerned that they or their family might be assaulted (Sandroussi & Thompson 1995, p. 7). A similar survey to Out of the Blue conducted in New South Wales by the Attorney General?s Department in 2003 found equally high levels of physical assault and harassment, with 56% reporting they experienced one or more forms of homophobic abuse, harassment or violence during the past twelve months and 85% experiencing such homophobic behaviours over their lifetime (NSW Attorney General's Department - Crime Prevention Division 2003, p. 57). Only a few transgender people were included in most of these reports and the levels of harassment and violence experienced by this group requires more study.

The killing of gay men has also come under scrutiny. A study conducted in New South Wales has found that 74 gay and homosexually oriented men have been killed between the years 1980-2000 in that state (Tomsen 2002). The two most common scenarios for these deaths were: an attack in a public space (usually at a beat) by a group of young males numbering from three to eight, and in the residence of the victim as a result of a dispute or a claimed sexual advance. One factor that marks these killings off from others was the very high levels of violence inflicted on the victim, violence that is ?hands on?, with the use of fists, feet and heavy objects or a knife. These attacks can be described as frenzied (sometimes up to 60 stab wounds). Similar killings have been noted in most states of Australia.

The term ?hate crime? has been adopted by some researchers and lesbian and gay activists to describe such violence. Hate crime is commonly defined by criminologists as:

?crime, most commonly violence, motivated by prejudice,