“First we’ll get rid of the Poles, then we’ll get rid of the gays!”

This is the chant that certain groups in Britain have taken up following that country’s vote to leave the European Union. There has also been a reported increase in homophobic assaults.

And, of course, this follows in the wake of mass murders at gay venues in Vera Cruz, Mexico and Orlando, Florida.

Violence against our communities is certainly nothing new (although that doesn’t make it any less horrific). But I do think some things have changed over time – and generally as a consequence of our communities’ activism. By recognising what those changes are and how they came about, I hope that this might help us strengthen our response to the current outbreak.

For example, some of the events that took place in the 80s include:

• A group of men attacked a gay pub in London. One of the customers sought assistance from police officers sitting outside the pub. He was told “What do you expect? You’re a queer in a queers pub!” . Then, “Fuck off before I nick you for being drunk and disorderly.” *
• In Sydney, detectives failed to follow basic procedures and actually lost vital evidence following the murder of a gay man near Bondi. *
• In Los Angeles, an independent review of that city’s Police Department showed that police themselves often assaulted gay men. (“It’s easier to thump a faggot than an average Joe. Who cares!”) *

So, not only were we under attack, the police were often complicit in those attacks.

That, at least, has begun to change. It didn’t happen quickly and it didn’t happen until our communities came together to demand change. GALOP in London, the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby in Sydney and the LAPD Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board in Los Angeles were just some of the initiatives established by members of our communities.

Since the 80s, initiatives such as these have got politicians and police chiefs to acknowledge that homophobic violence is unacceptable.That, in itself, is a massive achievement and, apart from anything else, says we are no longer alone in fighting this.

In light of the latest upsurge in homophobic violence, our communities need to come together again. Most immediately, we need to support those affected. But, longer term, we must lobby police and politicians – who have acknowledged that homophobic violence is unacceptable – to take measures that address the wider causes of hatred towards queer people.

*    I cover these incidents and other elements of homophobic violence in much greater detail in my eBook Gay in the 80s. Full details here.