Almost 9 in 10 LGBTQ+ sexual violence victims did not report the incident to police, a ground-breaking study from Galop has found.
Content warning: This story includes topics that could make some readers uncomfortable. More than half (51%) feared they would not be taken seriously if they did come forward, with 25% being worried that the police would discriminate against them because of their LGBTQ+ identity.
Almost 6 in 10 (56%) did not report what happened because they thought the police would not be able to do anything. Of the 1,000 LGBTQ+ people interviewed by anti-abuse charity Galop as part of the survey, 12% said they did report their experience to the police.
However, 45% were either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the response they received. “The police said that they found it normal that this had happened since I’m gay and that was part of our community,” one victim told Galop.