‘I was chased down the street for wearing heels’: Trans people on surge in hate crimes

The number of hate crimes recorded in England and Wales has fallen for the first time in a decade. But transgender hate crimes have gone in the opposite direction, surging by 11 per cent in the past year.

The Home Office reported there were a total of 4,732 recorded hate crimes motivated by transgender hate last year, with its own report suggesting the issue being “heavily discussed by politicians, the media and on social media” may have contributed to the rise.

The new statistics come a fortnight after a report published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) said Britain is now less tolerant of transgender issues.

Only 30 per cent agreed a trans person should be permitted to change the sex on their birth certificate, compared to 53 per cent in 2019. In that year, 82 per cent described themselves as “not at all prejudiced” against trans people — a figure which has dropped sharply to 64 per cent this year.

“It doesn’t surprise me in the least,” said jane fae, a trans woman in her 60s, who prefers not to capitilise her name. “We’ve now had five years of a concerted onslaught by politicians and much of the mainstream media. If any minority were demonised constantly for five years you’d expect their popularity to wane a bit.”

fae, a writer and campaigner who transitioned in her 40s, told The Independent she’s experienced increasingly hostile attitudes over the years. She cites a study showing an exponential increase in trans coverage correlated with transphobic crimes.

“I know trans people who’ve been living a quiet life for years with no issue and have gone swimming recently and been beaten up in the locker room,” she added.

Dylan Davies, 24, was bullied after coming out as trans. He feels polarising content on social media is also to blame.

“People jump on bandwagons they don’t understand,” he told The Independent. “People will turn anything into a trans issue. I’ve even seen memes blaming the XL bully dogs issue on trans people.”

Davies says it’s affected his mental health and confidence to leave the house. “It makes me feel isolated, like there’s all these people outside who don’t want me to exist.”

The threat of violence is far from hypothetical for 32-year-old Nick Cherryman, also known as drag performer Ibi Profane. They recall an instance of being aggressively heckled and chased down the street by a group of male scaffolders — for wearing heels.

“I reported it to the police, because I wanted it to be included in hate crime stats. The policeman said: ‘Sounds like they were just having a laugh, mate’.

“Thankfully, a gay officer rang me back to apologise. He understood.”

The officer contacted the scaffolders’ employer to warn them should future behaviour lead to an arrest.

Cherryman, who describes themselves as “bolshy” and “resilient”, says the threat of aggression is always there, no matter how confident you are. “It also depends on how well you can pass. Being a trans person is a life of tension between people who accept you and people who don’t.”

Dr Kamilla Kamaruddin, 61, a GP in transgender healthcare and clinical lead for the East of England Gender Service, feels the demographics of survey participants needs to be interrogated. “The younger generation are much more inclusive. They don’t bat an eyelid when it comes to trans issues. Older people tend to be a bit more sceptical.”

Dr Kamaruddin, who left Malaysia due to hostility, feels her experience in the UK has been good overall, with patients and staff being very supportive and responsive to her transitioning. However, she has noticed a pattern of increased anxiety and isolation in her patients while working with them to receive gender-affirming care.

fae says the mental health impacts on trans people are acute and, although they are often told they are brave, she says they are more often desperate.

“I spent my whole life feeling like an outsider,” she said. “Like there was something about me that didn’t fit into life, community, civilisation... you name it.” She says that transitioning gave her a clarity she’d not experienced before. “The run up to transition had been a long walk in the wilderness, and I felt like I was rejoining society.”

Davies agrees, “All we’re trying to do is be ourselves. I feel like this is who I’m meant to be. Even with the transphobia, the hate and the massive waiting lists, it’s still the best thing I ever did.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is no place for hate in our society, it does not reflect the values of modern Britain, and we remain committed to ensuring these abhorrent offences are stamped out.

“We are pleased there has been an overall reduction in hate crimes recorded by police, and the numbers of sexual orientation, race and disability hate crimes all fell. But any instance is one too many.

“We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.”