ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the challenges that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) experiences and perceptions of these forms of violence rise for the hate crime agenda, campaigning and activism, law and institutional reform, and the realisation of safety and security. It describes a ‘violence’ to refer to the full spectrum of acts ranging from the most extreme and exceptional, bringing life itself to an end, to the pettiest and most frequent, so-called ‘low level’ acts such as harassment, intimidation, or fear-inducing name calling. The chapter also explores some of the key conceptual, social, political and practical factors that shape the LGBT-related aspects of the hate crime agenda. The factors that maintain LGBT people as ‘bad victims’ all work against LGBT people attaining the basic attributes of citizenship: safety and security. LGBT advocates need to heed the warnings raised in other hate crime contexts.
