Israel's LGBTQ community has experienced a "record-breaking" amount of hatred and violence in 2021, according to a report published by a right group Wednesday.
An annual report by the Nir Katz Center of the Aguda — The Association for LGBTQ+ Equality in Israel — presents a concerning overview of violence, discrimination, and exclusion of the community from public and private spaces throughout the last year.
The report, which was presented to Public Security Minister Omer Barlev, also shows the number of LGBTQ youth who were kicked out of their homes went up by 41% in 2021.
According to the data, 2,971 hateful and violent incidents were reported to the Aguda in 2021, 10% more than in 2020.
In 2020, only 14% of those who reported incidents were between the ages of 31-40, compared to 25% in 2021.
Of the most concerning trends of the report is the increase in incidents within families - about 43%, in comparison to 28% in 2020.
"A case that came to our doors was the story of [anonymous], an adolescent from a Haredi family," said the report. "He came out of the closet to his parents and his brother, and in response his brother hit him, and he was locked in his room and forced to undergo conversion therapy. He turned to The Aguda for help... he was immediately directed to emergency treatment."
Additionally, there was an increase of 41% in members of the community who are financially reliant on out-of-home centers. "The increase in the number of seekers that reached these centers is due to hardships the community faced during the pandemic," the report added.
One of the public spheres that were highlighted as sources of discrimination by the report is Israel's healthcare system. At least 7% of all reports received by The Aguda dealt with interactions between the health system and the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ members claim to be neglected by the system, oftentimes being forced to wait an absurd amount of time for sex reassignment treatments and surgeries.
According to the report, the amount of Israelis who now define themselves as non-binary, or prefer not to define their gender at all, reached 23% this year, as opposed to only 12% in 2020.
The report also provides personal accounts of LGBTQ members who describe incidents of discrimination they personally experienced.
"I'm a business owner," one member of the community said. "One of my customers called me and said that he saw an article about me on the internet and he now thinks that I'm completely crazy. He thinks that I cheated him because I'm transgender and that I'm disguising myself as a man. He demanded all his money back and that I cancel his transaction."
Another young transgender man spoke about his experience in a well-known clothing store. When he tried on some clothes, the workers in the store humiliated him and said that the fitting rooms are separated into categories of sex, not gender, and prompted him to leave the store.
Cyberbullying has proved to be a more popular way to discriminate and offend LGBTQ members. The Aguda explains that verbal aggressions on "cyber platforms are reported on a daily basis. This year, with the pandemic forcing us to stay home in front of our screens... the LGBTQ community was exposed to thousands of cases of LGBTQ-phobia on the web and social media, including verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, death threats surrounding pride parades and growing incidents of transphobia."
The rise in popularity of dating sites this year also brought along a surge of cyber violence towards the community. The Aguda reports that many LGBTQ individuals received horrible messages on these platforms, which in many cases caused them to be concerned for their lives.
"This is a red flag for the country and the government, a situation in which the members of the community are subject to prolonged hate and incitement with no reason besides the way they live their lives," said chairman of the association for LGBTQ members, Hila Pe'er.
"The report presents a sad reality, one in which a case of LGBTQ-phobia is reported every three hours on average and is present everywhere: in the workplace, healthcare system, authoritative institutions, public space, and even in private homes.
"In the last few years, we've learned and strengthened the community and clearly we know that our struggle for safety and equality will move forward, and with it, the resisting movements will escalate their hate and violence towards us. We won't be erased from the public space, we can't continue to be threatened, and we'll fight for each one of our basic rights until the reality is one that accepts and tolerates us."