‘Homophobic Violence Goes Unreported Due to the Lack of Trust in Authorities’

A Hungarian court considered homophobic hate an aggravating circumstance for the first time in the country on Monday. The Regional Court of Appeal of Debrecen has upheld an earlier decision of a lower level court, and sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment for murdering an elderly gay pharmacist out of homophobic motive.

Tamás Dombos of Háttér Support Society, an LGBT organization in Hungary, told kaosGL.org his opinions about the decision.

Welcoming the decision, Dombos states that it is very infrequent that the police and the court take a homophobic hate murder so seriously.

Another point Dombos underlines is how media approached the case. “We were also pleased by how the court worked with the media, they wanted to make sure that the general public learns about this horrendous crime” says Dombos, appreciating media for its anti-homophobic stance. That media coverage not delving into the private life of the victim is also a good development.

That murderer is not only homophobic but also hateful of different groups such as Roma people is no surprise for Dombos: “This resonates well with our experience that these kinds of prejudices go hand in hand.”

Dombos draws attention to the fact that only every 8th victim of homophobic and transphobic violence reports it to the authorities, claiming a trust issue that cannot be separated from the “political homophobia” dominating the discourse of conservative politicians in power since 2010.

He hopes that the case and several other upcoming assault cases concerning pride marches will encourage more LGBT people to come out with their stories of violence.