Survey shows extent of hate crime

The report said the gay community felt policing had improved

Almost three-quarters of people in Brighton's gay community have experienced hate crime in the last five years, a survey suggests.

The Count Me In Too survey found that 73% of people who were gay, bisexual or transgender had been a victim of hate crime and 14% had reported it.

Some 58% of participants said the police response to such crimes had improved in the last five years.

Sussex Police said it would continue to strive to make people feel safer.

The research by Dr Kath Browne, from the University of Brighton, and the Spectrum forum, also found that bisexual, transgender and young people were more likely to be victims of hate crime.

Homophobia and transphobia is not acceptable in this city Brian Oxley, Brighton and Hove City Council leader

Some 73% of those surveyed avoided public displays of affection because of safety concerns and 30% sometimes did not go out at night.

Ch Supt Paul Pearce said: "Count Me In Too does not contain any real surprises but it does provide firm evidence to support what we have previously only assumed.

"It is encouraging that the majority of people surveyed felt the police had improved over the last five years but there are still opportunities for improvement.

"We will continue to strive to address issues to make LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people feel safer by listening to the concerns of LGBT people and working with them to develop the service we provide."

Brian Oxley, Conservative leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said: "Clearly we have more work to do to encourage people to come forward and report incidents.

"We will be working very hard in the coming year to be clearer about what remedies are available to bring offenders to justice and make it clear that homophobia and transphobia is not acceptable in this city."