After widespread support of Rachel Taylor MP’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which was tabled in the House of Commons yesterday (18/06/2025), the government has committed to bringing equality to anti-LGBT+ hate crime law.

The proposed change to the Bill will make crimes motivated by hate towards LGBT+ and disabled people equal to hate crimes motivated by religious and racial prejudice – something Galop has long campaigned for. 

Under current hate crime law, LGBT+ and disabled victims face a disparity in sentencing, which affords them less time to report or for police to investigate, and signals that the hate crimes committed against them are less deserving of justice.

As Rachel Taylor MP, who tabled the amendment, said “all hatred is equal” but “only two, race and religion, are treated as aggravated offences subject to stronger sentencing powers... That discrepancy cannot be right. We cannot say, as a society, say that some forms of hatred are more evil than others.”

Anti-LGBT+ hate crime must be taken seriously. With the government’s commitment to imminently introduce this amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill when it moves to the next parliamentary stage, we are one significant step closer to achieving equality in hate crime law.

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