Almost 80% of Australian LGBTQI+ folk have experienced homophobic or transphobic hate speech in the past 12 months, ANZ research reveals.
The study, conducted by YouGov research, focused on hate speech directed towards queer, trans and gender non-conforming Australians. Of the 1025 LGBTQI-identifying Australians surveyed between January-February this year, all over the age of 18, 78% stated that they’d experienced “hurtful, homophobic or transphobic” language, while 69% reported being victim to derogatory slurs in the past 12 months.
1085 Australians who don’t identify as LGBTQI+ were also surveyed, with 59% of these survey participants believing that hate speech towards the LGBTQI+ Australians wasn’t a major issue today. As someone who identifies as LGBTQI+, this particular finding isn’t surprising to me – following marriage equality, it was common for those outside the community to assume that all LGBTQI-related issues were solved, subsequently ignoring the fact that homophobic hate speech – be it explicit, implicit or unintentional – remains an ongoing issue.
Check out the full research findings via the infographic below, courtesy of ANZ, a principal partner of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
This new research is part of ANZ’s latest #LoveSpeech campaign, aimed at highlighting the harmful impact of homophobic and transphobic language aimed at the LGBTQI+ community, educating straight folk about the power of language, and protecting LGBTQI+ folk from further hate speech.
With this last point in mind, ANZ has developed ‘The Hurt Blocker’, a customisable Google Chrome extension that can detect language deemed as homophobic, biphobic or transphobic and subsequently turn those words into emojis like rainbows and hearts. A pretty damn cute spin on an otherwise-hate-filled scenario. You can download the plug-in HERE.
