Executive director of the In IUSTITIA organization Klára Kalibová at a press conference for the conference Together against hate: Focused on victims of pre-trial violence, February 16, 2023, Prague.
Prague – Almost two-fifths of LGBT+ people (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans and other groups) experienced harassment and insults because of their orientation or identity in the last year. Almost a fifth of people had experience of assault and threats of violence in the last five years. According to seven out of ten people, insulting statements by politicians are widespread. Five years ago, four out of ten people thought so. Michal Pitoňák, one of the authors, presented the results of the study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NÚDZ) and the Queer Geography association at a press conference today. According to the head of the organization In Iustitia, Klára Kalibová, there is a need to improve protection against prejudicial violence against people with a different orientation or a medical handicap.
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The NÚDZ study follows on from research from 2018. Last year, from mid-August to mid-October, experts surveyed the opinions and experiences of men, women and non-binary people. Two thirds of those questioned were gay, bisexual and lesbian, and one third were people of other orientations.
“We perceive the situation to be worsening due to greater prejudice and aversion, especially on the part of political representatives,” said Pitoňák.
71 percent of respondents consider insulting and derogatory statements by politicians to be widespread. In 2018, it was 43 percent. In 2012, 27 percent of people mentioned it in research by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). “We also see an increase in expressions of hatred and aversion towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans people in public,” the authors said in the research report. Aversion and expressions of hatred were described as widespread by 52 percent of respondents. In 2018, it was 40 percent.
Half of people have experienced harassment in the last five years. In the last year, almost two fifths of people have experienced it or insults. 18 percent of the respondents knew of physical and sexual assault or threats of violence in the last five years. It was even 60 percent among trans women. Over the last year, more than a third of those surveyed have experienced discriminatory actions. It was 58 percent among trans men.
44 percent of those questioned hid their orientation or identity in public. 42 percent did not show it in traffic. A total of 28 percent of people also kept it a secret in their family.
Today in Prague, experts at a professional conference focused on protection against hate speech and attacks due to orientation or disability. Representatives of non-profit organizations recalled last year's tragic attack in a Bratislava gay bar or the death of a disabled client in one of the facilities the year before last. According to Kalibová, the criminal code does not protect people with a handicap or with a different orientation and identity from prejudicial violence, and it is necessary to amend the legislation and tighten the penalties. The rate is now higher for acts of hatred because of nationality, skin color, faith, political beliefs or ethnicity.
“It is up to the decision of the political representation whether it wants, for example, a physical attack because of otherness – sexual orientation, age , state of health – was punished more severely as in the case of an attack due to nationality or political beliefs. The political opinion in this case is not entirely clear. We expect debates on that level of values,” said political deputy minister of justice for STAN Karel Dvořák.
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