Spain is no longer as moderate and open as it was said with some pride a few years ago, especially with regard to the immigrant population and homosexuals and transsexuals. The situation is changing as revealed by the latest research carried out in the LGTBI community: close to one million people have been harassed and discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and some 300,000 people have been attacked in the last five years. .
This is indicated by the survey "LGBT State 2023", prepared by 40db, for the LGTBI State Federation, on the occasion of the day against LGTBIphobia. Some hidden data mainly due to the lack of complaints.
According to the Secretary of Organization of the LGTBI State Federation, Ignacio Paredero, "given that on average 20% of hate acts were reported, LGTBI people filed at least 56,000 complaints of aggression in Spain in the last five years. These data contrast with the official data on hate crimes, which put 1,551 known hate crimes in the last five years.”
Why this uptick? The president of the LGTBI State Federation, Uge Sangil, recalls that "just 5 years ago, in 2018, the ultra-right broke into public institutions, specifically the Andalusian parliament, and went viral with its racist, sexist and LGTBIphobic discourse."
“Since then, hate speech has become radicalized in our country and attacks against the group have been increasing, as revealed by the latest report from the Ministry of the Interior, which speaks of a 70% increase in hate crimes based on orientation sexuality and/or gender identity”, he points out.
The investigation reveals that, in the last five years, 29% of LGTBI people have been harassed; 27.5% discriminated against and 8.6% have suffered at least one physical or sexual assault.
The data also show that it is trans people and women who suffer this type of discrimination most frequently. It also shows that young people and those with fewer resources are at higher risk of hate incidents.
Almost four out of 10 people under the age of 34 have suffered harassment or discrimination for being LGTBI and more than one in 10 (11%) LGTBI people between the ages of 24 and 35 have suffered some physical or sexual assault.
Among LGTBI people who earn less than 1,000 euros a month, 32% have suffered harassment, 35% discrimination and 10% some aggression.
