Handbook : monitoring and reporting homophobic and transphobic incidents, 2008

Incidents and violence motivated by hatred against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people take different forms: physical violence, hate speech, threats of violence, verbal abuse, etc. Incidents and violence targeting LGBT people also take place in different places, including public areas, schools, the workplace, or in the privacy of the home. In other words, homophobic and transphobic incidents range from homophobic attacks during a Pride, lesbophobic violence in a public space to homophobic bullying in schools.

The aim of this publication is to contribute to increased and better reporting of homophobic and transphobic incidents by providing tools and a methodology to document and report violence motivated by hatred against LGBT people in a systematic and factual manner. This publication is designed for LGBT and human rights organisations who intend to monitor the occurrence of homophobic or transphobic incidents and violence, in order to advocate for legislative changes to increase legal protections from violence motivated by homophobia, lesbophobia and transphobia at national, European and international levels. The methodology and tools proposed to document how states and state actors protect or fail to protect the rights of the victims of hate crime or violence are those of human rights monitoring, which is detailed below.