Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Anti-LGBTQ+ hate is rising in Western nations both on & offline

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/anti-lgbtq-hate-is-rising-in-western-nations-both-on-offline/

Faefyx Collington (23 Oct 2025)

A report released this week by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found a huge increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate, threats, and violence in the US, UK, and Europe, which researchers frame as a backlash to twenty years of positive progress.

The report provides an overview of anti-LGBTQ+ trends from the last five years, examining issues both online and in the real world. "After two decades of gains for LGBTQ+ visibility and rights in many countries, anti-LGBTQ+ targeted hate and rhetoric are on the rise," say ISD's Guy Fiennes and Paula-Charlotte Matlach of ISD in the report. "Offline, there has been a surge of reported hate crimes and book bans, alongside a wave of government and legislative actions targeting LGBTQ+ rights (with a focus on trans people). Online, LGBTQ+ individuals face coordinated harassment campaigns, a rollback of digital protections, and systematic erasure from AI training data and moderation."

According to ISD, there has been a surge in hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people, with the FBI reporting that 20% of hate crimes in 2024 were "motivated by an anti-LGBTQ+ bias" for the third year in a row. GLAAD reported 918 anti-LGBTQ+ "incidents" in 2024, with a shockingly large proportion of those, 48%, targeting the proportionally smaller trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming community. The group notes that LGBTQ+ people are 5 times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime in the US than non-LGBTQ+ people.

Dissatisfaction from the hardships of the GFC, quickly followed by the Covid pandemic, primed Westerners to embrace hate. Conservatives learned that the masses would swallow almost anything served on social media, and they pushed disinformation to unseat progressives. LBGTQIA has always been an easy target, and in particular trans people who are portrayed as insane and unstable.

The support for people like Trump has emboldened hate groups to attack minorities in every country. While they don't win every time, they do swell their numbers. Some countries have recognised the power of social media to encourage hate and crime, and are starting to explore limits, but we are nowhere near effective control. I guess the wars to win over societies are being waged online, and if we ever hope to gain equality, that must be our battlefield.

Hugs,

Allie

Quote from: Allie Jayne on October 23, 2025, 03:41:06 PMI guess the wars to win over societies are being waged online, and if we ever hope to gain equality, that must be our battlefield.

Check this out:

'3.5% rule': The anti-Trump movement is nearing an important threshold
If you want to guarantee success against authoritarianism, research shows you need at least 3.5% of the country's population on your side.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/no-kings-protests-trump-successful-anti-authoritarian-movements-rcna238949

MSNBC - Rachel Maddow
Oct. 21, 2025, 1:22 PM MDT

According to estimates from organizers, nearly seven million people turned out nationwide for the "No Kings" rallies, making it one of the largest single-day protests ever in U.S. history.

One of the academics behind new research from the Kennedy School is Erica Chenoweth, who is perhaps most famous for their research into something called the 3.5% rule.

Chenoweth has studied hundreds of movements from around the world over the past century to identify what makes for a successful popular campaign against an authoritarian government.

If you want to guarantee success against authoritarianism, there is one more thing you must do: You must grow until at least 3.5% of the population is out in the streets protesting.

... if you manage to get that 3.5% of the country out in the streets with you, the historical data suggests your movement will win.

In the U.S., 3.5% of the population amounts to almost 12 million people. For the first "No Kings" rally in June, turnout was estimated at around five million. And on Saturday, Indivisible estimates nearly seven million people came out. Considering that growth, in just a few months, does 12 million really seem so far away?

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I think the difference is action. Many people doomscroll social media sites, and this is an effective way to disseminate propaganda. But getting people to physically go outside and participate in an event is much more powerful. The problem is getting people to get off the couch and go outside... for a cause.

Quote from: Allie Jayne on October 23, 2025, 03:41:06 PMI guess the wars to win over societies are being waged online, and if we ever hope to gain equality, that must be our battlefield.

Hugs,

Allie

I rather think that social media is just used by a higher number of misanthropes, who can't function in the real world, and who are just looking for a reason to hate anything. But then I am rather cynical. Hate sells online. People are just looking for reasons. It's really sad. I don't think that's a war you can win.