Hate crime and where to get support

Hate crime and incidents

You may be a victim of a hate crime or hate incident if someone targets you or treats you unfairly because of your:

• race or ethnicity
• disability
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• gender identity (including being transgender)

These are known as protected characteristics.

You can still be affected by a hate crime or incident even if you do not personally identify with one of these characteristics, but the person targeting you believes that you do.

Hate incidents

Hate incidents may also include situations where someone:

• uses abusive language towards you
• makes offensive or negative comments (including online or on social media)
• behaves in an antisocial way towards you
• shows hostility towards you

You can report a hate incident whether you are the victim or a witness.