According to a Home Office report, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people have increased by 10% between 2020-2021.
Published on 12 October 2021, the document revealed that a staggering 17,135 hate crimes based on sexual orientation were reported last year, a 7% increase from 2019-2020; hate crimes against transgender people have also increased by 3%, with 2,630 reports made in 2020-21.
In a Guardian article, Leni Morris, the chief executive of the LGBTQ+ anti-violence charity Galop, suggested there are multiple reasons for the rise in hate crimes, including queer couples becoming more open in public and the reopening of nightclubs exacerbating homophobic and transphobic behaviour.
Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ safe spaces - specifically nightclubs - are now seeing an influx of straight customers entering these venues since Covid restrictions have lifted, from bachelorette parties to regular club goers looking for another fun night out.
For Manchester’s Gay Village - also known as Canal Street - the increasing straight clientele is becoming more noticeable, and not often for the right reasons.
Homophobic graffiti vandalising murals on Canal Street, groups of straight men starting a brawl at a gay bar, and physical assaults against LGBTQ+ people has provided a catalyst for the debate of whether LGBTQ+ spaces are still safe, and whether, with the rise in LGBTQ+ related hate crimes, if straight people should be able to enter these venues.
“We’ve had to fight for those spaces.”
Will (any pronouns), who moved to Manchester from London in 2017, used to visit Canal Street a lot more before the pandemic and thinks that the “change in the demographic” has resulted in a different atmosphere in the village.
Will thinks that one of the risks to straight people entering queer safe spaces is that it could create a “risk to this sense of feeling safe and being relaxed” for LGBTQ+ people.
They said: “The special thing about having [Canal Street] is that you walk in and be completely yourself.”
Will also thinks that straight people sometimes perceive LGBTQ+ spaces as a zoo or tourist attraction, detailing a time that they confronted a hen party in a bar on Canal Street for their queer-phobic remarks to David Hoyle after his canonisation.
They said of the confrontation: “It was absolutely baffling.
“I lost my temper and told her to wind her neck in, and look around, and remember where she was.
“I think it’s just a respect thing. We’ve had to fight for those spaces.”
“You can literally be who you want on Canal Street”
Since moving to Manchester, Ben Webster (he/him/they/them) has been exploring more of their gender identity after surrounding themselves with more queer people and identifies as gender fluid.
They said: “I like the masculine side of myself, but I want to explore the feminine, and I don’t mind any pronouns, to be honest - call me whatever.”
Ben, who frequents Canal Street with a wide range of friends, enjoys the inclusivity of the village and that “you can literally be who you want” with no judgement, but criticises certain queer venues for not considering the amount of straight people they let in, which could make LGBTQ+ club goers feel uncomfortable.
On 13 April 2022, Ben shared on Twitter that he had been assaulted by a straight man outside of The Brewers on Canal Street. Attached to the tweet, which has nearly 14k likes, was a photo of Ben’s bruised eye, where the straight man had slapped them.
Despite the attack, Ben still feels “safe in a way” in the village thanks to the bouncers, who immediately went into action after they were hit.
They said: “It just shows that straight people aren’t always okay with gay people.
“But that’s the only thing I’ve experienced, but I still feel safe here, very much so. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be coming back every week.”
“You need to be an ally and mindful of the fact that you are entering a queer space.”
Jack McGrath (he/him), a bartender at G-A-Y nightclub, described Canal Street as a “nice community” and safe space for the LGBTQ+ people - but after the pandemic, there was an increase in straight attendees, which he suggests is due to the long strip of outdoor seating in the village.
Jack is okay with straight people entering queer venues like G-A-Y or Bloom, but that there needs to be a caveat to entering those spaces.
He said: “[Straight people have to be] respectful of the queer community and of queer spaces, because obviously those spaces are designed with queer people in mind.
“So, if you’re going to enter those spaces, you need to be an ally and mindful of the fact that you are entering a queer space.”
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