Colchester and Tendring homophobic incidents higher than rest of Essex

New figures unearthed via a Freedom of Information request show Essex Police recorded 61 homophobic hate incidents in Colchester and 62 in Tendring – rates which are higher than Basildon, Chelmsford, and Southend.

And although the number of homophobic hate incidents in Basildon and Southend fell between 2022 and 2023, the figures in Colchester and Tendring were stagnant.

In Southend, for example, the rate of homophobic hate crimes fell from 83 to 54, whilst in Basildon, they fell from 91 to 52 – reductions of 35 per cent and 42 per cent.

Encouraging – the number of transgender hate crimes has fallen in almost every police district, with the exception of Basildon (Image: Newsquest)

In Colchester however, the number of homophobic hate crimes fell from 62 to 61, whilst in Tendring they rose from 58 to 62.

These figures run against the countywide trend which has seen the overall number of homophobic hate incidents in Essex fall by ten per cent from 577 in 2022 to 511 in 2023.

Transgender hate crimes, however, are much less frequent in north Essex than they are in south Essex, figures show.

In Basildon, Essex Police recorded 28 transgender hate crimes, and 12 in Southend for the year 2023.

In Colchester and Tendring, that number was nine each, with the number of transgender hate crimes falling Essex-wide from 145 to 87 – a reduction of 40 per cent.

Councillor Mark Cory, former council leader and member of Colchester’s LGBT community, said Colchester has generally shown itself to be a city which accepts others regardless of their background.

Open-minded – Councillor Mark Cory said Colchester is largely welcoming of those from diverse backgrounds (Image: Newsquest)

He said: “It’s hard to say why those figures haven’t moved; however, I feel the general population are much happier to accept diversity and accept people of all types on the LGBT spectrum – that’s a real positive.

“We’ve seen some excellent events in Colchester and celebrations in the community, with pride being bigger and better.

“The general population is much happier and more comfortable with each other, but it’s just those on the peripheries and those who are marginalised [who can cause divisions].

“Colchester has always been an open-minded place.”

It comes as organisations across the city of Colchester jointly condemned hate speech amid a planned public rally outside the war memorial on Saturday. 

The statement said: "Colchester is fast becoming a regional city that LGBTQ+ people want to live in, because of the passionate and proud culture that is being created here, not only by queer people but by our allies too.

"We join with other community organisations to loudly state that discrimination of any kind is not acceptable in Colchester.

"We encourage community members to actively disengage with activities related to the event both in person and online.

"We believe any sort of counter-demonstration could prompt an escalation in risk to its participants and our collective priority is the safety of our community."