Today, The Rainbow Project is launching a report that shows that gay people who are attacked because of their sexuality are still reluctant to report them to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

The research was carried out by John O’Doherty, Equality Officer with The Rainbow Project, following their commission by the PSNI. According to the research, more than 60% of homophobic incidents in the last three years were not reported.

I know that the police do try to reach out to the LGBT community in various ways: they are nearly always at Belfast Pride Festival in the summer, as well as their ongoing work with the LGBT community organisations, and through the work of the LGBT Independent Advisory Group. Hopefully, in the future more gay people will feel empowered to report homophobic abuse to the police. 

It has been suggested that there was no increase in homophobic incicdents following the Iris Robinson debacle last summer, but if over 60% of these incidents have not been reported to the PSNI, is this any wonder?