24/08/2017
New Guidelines have been published for the benefit of agencies, police forces and the judiciary by the Crown Prosecution Service. The reforms were widely reported in the media and will instruct prosecutors to bear in mind the deeply damaging nature of hate crime committed online, which psychologically can be just as damaging as having property vandalised and personal space invaded. A spokesperson for the CPS observed that the advent of Twitter and immediate contact media such as Facebook had given homophobes and other extremists a new platform to stalk and intimidate their victims. As if to prove the point, a young woman who recently made a loving documentary for BBC Three television about her lesbian mum, revealed to Pink News that she has been bombarded by vile abuse from homophobes across the globe. The family has taken steps to report the hate to Twitter’s head office. Meanwhile, neo-nazis in Australia have shown that homophobes are not above defacing public and private property after going on a spree of illegal posting. Incredibly offensive posters with fake statistics about the supposed dangers of samesex relationships have been reported across the city of Brisbane. Gay groups had previously warned the government that their decision to hold a referendum on marriage equality would lead to the far right wing making up statistics and bullying the LGBT community.