An increase in the number of gay and transgender people who reported physical violence last year was recorded in Francethe activist organization announced today, warning that sentiment against it remains “entrenched” in society. LGBT+ community.

In its report, the organization SOS Homophobia reports that over 1,500 complaints of homophobic or other racist behavior were received through its website and hotline in 2022.That is about the same as last year.

However, the number of complaints of physical abuse increased by 28%, reaching 184, almost one every two days.

“Despite changes in legislation and human behavior, members of the LGBTI+ community today still cannot live freely as they are,” organization leader Joel Damier told AFP.

In her report The organization says that violence against gay and transgender people includes “traps set by dating apps.”while this violence often has “superficial or non-existent motives”.

Complaints that came to them included a knife attack on a gay couple on the subway, the case of two women who found their car spat on, a young man who was attacked by five strangers, and another about whom his neighbor told him that ” something like you shouldn’t live.”

There are also complaints about realtors who refused to sell or rent LGBTQI+ homes to couples or families, and public spaces such as shops or libraries that denied entry to non-binary or transgender people.

SOS Homophobia notes that transgender incidents increased by 26% last year to 227.

As emphasized, schools in particular “often refuse any administrative changes” regarding the gender of students.

Homophobia SOS is calling on the government to launch a “national information campaign”, devote more resources to investigating homophobic and transphobic attacks, and improve the training of police officers, some of whom still refuse to register such complaints.

With information from APE-MPE and AFP