Attack on gay man's home

PSNI was told to crack down on rising levels of homophobic attacks

Excrement has been smeared on the door and windows of a gay man's home in Londonderry.

It is thought to be the second homophobic attack in the city within the past week.

On Saturday night a gay man was attacked in the Queen's Quay area.

The latest attack took place on Thursday night

David McCartney of the support group, the Rainbow Project, said he did not believe it signalled a rise in these kind of attacks.

"The young man concerned believes that it is homophobic in its nature and he has been getting some verbal abuse in the area," he said.

"He is quite disgusted at what has happened. There is a fear factor when you encounter this type of harassment on an estate.

The disgusting nature of the attack is eloquent testimony to the sewer-level minds of the people who do this type of thing Patricia Lewsley SDLP

"What we find is there is more confidence in reporting incidents. I think than any real increase in attacks and harassment, we're actually hearing more people come forward, rather than staying silent.

"It is quite an embryonic community here - it is very small and it is developing, but we are actually finding a greater degree of confidence among gay and bisexual men."

'Monitor incidents'

Mr McCartney said there were now more support mechanisms in place than there would have been a few years ago.

"We have found an improvement in how these incidents are dealt with (by the police) and we have recently found a number of successful prosecutions."

SDLP equality spokesperson Patricia Lewsley condemned the attack.

She said: "The disgusting nature of the attack is eloquent testimony to the sewer-level minds of the people who do this type of thing".

"What is even more disturbing is that there seems to be an increase in the number of such attacks in particular areas.

"It is possible that the trend may be even more serious, as it is acknowledged that these types of attack are under-reported."

In March, Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde was told the PSNI had to crack down on rising levels of racial and homophobic attacks.

It was announced by the Policing Board that such incidents were to be tackled as part of a £774m strategy for running the PSNI over 12 months.

Mr Orde was also told to monitor the number of racist and homophobic incidents.