“Durham Region Police celebrating Pride 2014” by Stacie DaPonte is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Police-reported hate crimes against gays and lesbians in Canada dropped 13 per cent between 2014 and 2015, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data released this summer.

Since 2012, the number of hate crimes against homosexuals has fallen nearly 30 per cent from 168 incidents in 2012 to 121 reported in 2015.

Still, those in the queer community remain amongst the top targeted groups over the past four years for crimes motivated by bias, prejudice, or hate as defined by StatsCan. In 2015, cases against blacks, Jews and Muslims were the highest for the year.

Canadian studies professor Marika Morris of Carleton University attributes the lower amount to what she calls “an enormous cultural shift” in views about sexual identity in the past thirty years.

She says the LGBTQ communities have been successful in outreach to the general public about inclusion. Morris adds that lower numbers of hate crimes based on sexual orientation could also be influenced by anti-bullying messages in schools, and health and sex education that teaches a variety of sexual orientations to students.

Carleton student Joanna Zebib, says she feels safe being seen with her partner in public, but adds, “there are a lot of moments where I feel like back in that space where I should be hiding.”

Morris says the decline in crime against gays and lesbians “may really reflect a diminishing number of crimes committed against those of a minority sexual identity.”

Zebib, who identifies as a queer Muslim woman, says, “for me, that kind of violence comes from every single direction.”

“It’s not that I’m being attacked as a Muslim, or attacked as a queer, I’m being attacked as a queer Muslim.”

Zebib says she feels the statistics do not always reflect this intersectionality, adding that her own identities are interconnected and cannot be analyzed separately from one another.

“My experiences are going to be a bit different from a white gay man,” she says.

StatsCan did not release data that addresses the groups that exist within sexual orientation, but Zebib says she feels white gays and lesbians tend to face less hate in public because it is now frowned upon to be homophobic.

“But if it’s a person of colour, it’s a different story,” she says.

StatsCan reported that 47 per cent of victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation listed the accused as an acquaintance or family member, compared to victims of violent crimes by race at 36 per cent and of a religion 26 per cent.

Zebib says when she came out, she faced alienation on social media when long time friends unfriended her on Facebook.

She says, “Those are very small, private, passive aggressive acts, but they tend to hurt a lot more then those like when I’m walking down the street with my partner and someone tries to harass us.”

“At least in that setting… I didn’t expect to be safe, as opposed to private situations where you folks called me your friend for years and yet I don’t feel safe enough to be myself around you.”

Zebib says she has been victim to hate crimes based on her queerness in the past, but declined to talk about her experiences. She did not report any incidents to police.

Zebib says, “It’s a great fact that the stats are going down, but you can’t overlook the ones that are happening.”

Morris says, “We all need to build on the good work of LGBTQ communities to continue to make our society more inclusive of everyone.”

She adds: “We all benefit when everyone can contribute to the best of their ability, without fear.”