A new report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) reveals that hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals have surged across the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe over the past five years. 

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been particularly hard hit, shedding light on how extremist violence, harsh government measures and digital discrimination are converging to threaten queer lives.

The ISD’s report tracks a sharp rise in violent attacks: from the mass shooting at the LGBTQ+ bar Club Q in Colorado that left five people dead, to the 2023 murder of a woman in California who was flying a rainbow flag at her shopfront, and the arrest of 20 members of the white-supremacist group Patriot Front in Idaho, plotting to target a Pride event.

Outside of the United States, other incidents are cited across Europe, including a shooting in Oslo in 2022, where an attack on two of the city’s LGBTQ+ bars injured nine and killed two. Another incident mentioned is the foiled plot involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at a Lady Gaga concert in Brazil, specifically targeting the LGBTQ+ community.  The report underlines how “distinct extremist ideologies converge on anti-LGBTQ+ hate” and how this is far more than random violence.

On the legislative front, anti-LGBTQ+ policies are spreading rapidly. The ISD finds that these official actions have increased in tandem with inflammatory political rhetoric.

At the same time, the online world is becoming increasingly hostile: “Trans-vestigators” and social-media mobs target trans and gender-nonconforming people in real life and online, while tech platforms under pressure from sweeping “online safety” laws and AI-moderation mandates are rolling back explicit protections for LGBTQ+ users, and in some cases erasing queer spaces.

Offline abuses and online suppression are deeply intertwined. Book bans, education censorship, and legislation targeting trans people sit alongside extremist violence and terror threats directed at LGBTQ+ spaces. 

Meanwhile, the digital realm is not serving as a refuge. According to the ISD, “a series of actions have sought to exclude LGBTQ+ people and culture from public life”. The chilling reality for queer youth is stark: in the US, 71% say state laws affecting LGBTQ+ rights have harmed their mental health, and nearly half report feeling “very often” anxious because of threats to LGBTQ+ spaces.

The report underscores the need to address offline threats such as LGBTQ+ hate crimes and governmental actions alongside online harms, such as over-moderation, erasure of queer content and the targeting of trans users. 

Failure to act could allow the convergence of extremist violence, hostile legislation and tech-driven exclusion to continue past the last five years and subsequently roll back decades of LGBTQ+ progress. In this moment of regression, safeguarding both the physical safety and digital presence of queer people is more vital than ever.

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