LGBTQphobia Report #8

Main LGBTQphobic Areas and Community Support Analysis

Home and Local Environment: “I live in a building where one of my neighbours constantly talks and disapproves of my sexual orientation- to my face or behind my back, and in every opportunity he gets.” L, Jerusalem. The Covid crisis has highlighted the difficulties experienced by the LGBTQ community in their local environment. The lockdowns meant that people have stayed home more often than usual, which has in turn brought the LGBTQphobia to our doorstep, since public spaces have shrunk according to the new government guidelines. The result was an increased feeling of discomfort LGBTQ were experiencing. For example, hostile behaviour from family members, and / or neighbours. LGBTQphobia in one’s home environment diminishes one’s safe space to a very small minimum. The experienced hostility is constant, making it that much harder to bear. It makes our community feel hounded as well as intensifies their emotional difficulties and sense of insecurity. It is demonstrated in a 26% increase in the number of LGBTQ people who turned to The Aguda for emotional and mental assistance in 2020, as opposed to 2019. One of the cases we handled was of an LGBTQ couple, whose neighbours were behaving brutally with them and picking on them and their children on a daily basis. We have also witnessed a significant increase in tearing off pride flags from members of the LGBTQ community's private homes (specifically from their balconies): “My partner and I placed a flag on our window, for Pride month. Our neighbours have approached us and asked for us to take it down. When we didn’t and they started threatening us, we called the police and still, a few days later, our flag was torn off…” The Coronavirus Effects in Broad Perspective The Corona has hit the entire community and has affected all life’s aspects. For example, concerning young LGBTQ people: This year 315 youngsters had to leave their home, due to constant abuse/harassment, compared to 272 in 2019 - a 16% increase. Moreover, the pandemic has edged the LGBTQphobia into personal spaces, much more than in the previous year: 8% of all cases in 2019 happened in a space close to home or in a public area, whereas 2020 saw a significant increase to 25% in those cases- 1 in every 4 reported incidents was about abusive behaviour happening close to home. When it comes to influential public figures, who speak in public, there were rabies, such as Rabi Mazoz, who claimed that the pandemic was created because of the LGBTQ, thus increasing the incitement against the entire community.

LGBTQphobia Report