This June, being Pride month, we are taking the opportunity to highlight sexual orientation hate crime.

Hate crimes and incidents hurt; they can be confusing and frightening.

By reporting them when they happen to you, you may be able to prevent these incidents from happening to someone else.  

We understand that it is sometimes difficult to go to the police about hate crime. If you are a victim of hate crime or know someone who is you can report it to us - Citizens Advice North Herts is a registered Hate Crime Reporting Centre.

This can be committed against a person or property.

If you are threatened, harassed or attacked because you are LGBTQ+, you have experienced a hate crime.

A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted - for example if you are not LGBTQ+, but the person abusing you believes that you are. The harmed person could be, for example, the child of a same-sex couple.

It is a hate crime so long as the offender was motivated, wholly or partially, by a hostility to that sexual orientation.

Hate crimes target people because of who they are. That includes people abusing you for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, non-binary, intersex or asexual. It also includes abuse based on someone’s race, faith or disability.

Don’t accept it - no one has the right to abuse you for who you are. You have a right to be respected and to express yourself free from abuse.

The law protects you from homophobic, biphobic and transphobic verbal and physical abuse.

Sometimes it’s obvious that you’ve experienced a hate crime, though often it’s less clear, such as when someone behaves in an aggressive, hurtful or prejudiced way.

If you’re unsure if what they have done has broken a criminal law, you can still report it.

Reporting makes a difference... to you, your friends, your community and your life.

Citizens Advice is committed to being an inclusive organisation for LGBTQ+ people.

You can contact CANH by leaving a message on the answerphone at 01462 689801 or calling the Adviceline on 0800 144 88 48.

Visit northhertscab.org.uk to email or to find out more.