Transphobic and racist hate crime culprits ’emboldened by Boris Johnson’, Labour politician claims
Boris Johnson steps out of 10 Downing Street, October 2019. (WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Within 24 hours of Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson’s thumping win in the UK general elections, transphobic hate crime rocketed in a Tory-led constituency, Labour politician claims.
Johnson’s use of homophobic, racist and classist slurs across his journalistic and political career were a spectre during his campaign bid, but it appeared that voters had little worry despite activists’ unease over the lawmaker becoming prime minister.
Voters overwhelmingly ticked the ballot boxes in Johnson’s favour, who once referred to gay men as “tank-topped bum boys” and compared same-sex marriage to “three men and a dog”, as Sheffield has seen a jolt in transphobic hate crime, a Stocksbridge councillor claimed.
‘This is what happens when you have a prime minister who openly promotes homophobia and bigotry’.
Francyne Johnson reported that the ascent of Johnson and Conservative lawmakers will “embolden” people to commit such acts, she stated in a Facebook post yesterday.
She sketched a troubling scene where, just a day after Johnson’s victory, she received an array of reports about racist graffiti and transphobic assaults.
One anti-trans incident involved, the councillor claimed, criminal damage and assault by people celebrating the election result in the early hours of Friday morning.
Moreover, she said that a local takeaway had racist graffiti scrawled across its walls – she is cooperating with the business owner to organise a clean up.
“This is what happens when you have a prime minister who openly promotes homophobia and bigotry,” she said.
“I am deeply worried that this Conservative government which promotes hate will embolden and licence such crimes.”
Protesters held a ‘bum boys against Boris Johnson’ protest outside Downing Street (WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/ Getty)
Francyne finished more than 7,000 votes behind her Conservative rival Miriam Cates in Penistone and Stockbridge.
She stated that she is coordinating with Cates to “tackle this increase in violent and criminal hate crime over the forthcoming weeks.”
Speaking to The Star, she added: “There’s a wealth of evidence to suggest there’s been an increase in hates crimes both under this Conservative government and in particular under this leader, and if people like me don’t speak out about it then we’re in a worrying place.”
Research has consistently shown that as right-wing parties gather momentum and spike in support, it leads to an increase in hate crime as it cultivates a climate of hate, researches have claimed.
Data has unfortunately run in parallel to such trends, with homophobic and transphobic hate crimes having rocketed in the last five years across England and Wales.
Between 2015 and 2018, the rate of LGBT+ hate crime, including offences like harassment, assault and stalking, increased by 144 per cent.
