By Gaelle Sheehan
(Reuters) – Offences against the LGBT+ community in France rose 13% in 2023, with 4,560 incidents reported, and after a rise of 3% in 2022, data from the French interior ministry showed on Thursday.
Seven out of ten victims were men, the statistical service said, and around 50% were under 20 years old. It added that about 7% of the victims were under the age of 15.
The number of offences reported in 2023 was 40% higher than in 2020.
The majority of the offenders were aged under 30 years, and eight out of ten were men, data showed.
“Transphobic acts are becoming increasingly frequent and violent, and that’s a trend that worries us”, president and spokesperson for the French LGBT+ rights association SOS Homophobie, Julia Torlet, told broadcaster Franceinfo on Wednesday.
Last Sunday, the French interior ministry said around 10,000 people protested in French cities against a proposed bill by the conservative Les Republicains party which wants to ban medical gender transitions for minors, calling it a transphobic measure.
In 2023, the most serious offences such as violence and threats posted the sharpest rise at +19%. Fines, issued by the French national police and Gendarmerie mainly for insulting members of the LGBT+ community, increased by 4% after a fall of 9% in 2022.
Victims were still very reluctant to press charges, the statistical service said.
SOS Homophobie voiced concerns over anti-LGBT+ tendencies, saying that the first months of 2024 confirm this trend, Franceinfo reported.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said in a report this week based on an online survey of more than 100,000 people who identify as LGBTIQ, that within the European Union people face less discrimination but more physical or sexual attacks than three years ago.
(Reporting by Gaëlle Sheehan; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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