Combating
homophobic hate crime in Northern Ireland
The Survey
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This
survey, conducted by the Institute for Conflict Research*, is about
homophobic incidents occurring in Northern Ireland, and the ways that
homophobic hate crime is being tackled. It has been commissioned by
the Office of First Minister, Deputy First Minister at Stormont.
This
questionnaire is for lesbian, gay or bisexual individuals living in
Northern Ireland, whether you have experienced homophobic
harassment or violence or not.
Please
fill in one - and only one - questionnaire per person. Please
read carefully, particularly the section headings in black,
and complete all relevant sections. If you would like to write in
more detail on a particular point, please use the space at the end
of the questionnaire.
This
online form is detailed and will take 10 - 15 minutes to complete.
Your computer may drop its modem connection before you are finished.
If so, when you click the "Submit" button at the end, the
modem will reconnect automatically.
ALL INFORMATION RECEIVED WILL BE COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL.
SECTION
A: YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS
In
this section we will ask you for information about yourself.
This will be used to provide general information about respondents,
and will not be used to identify individuals. As with the
rest of the form, all information included in this section
will be kept
COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL.
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1. How old are you? (Please click
one)
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2. Are you:
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3. How would you describe your sexual orientation?
(Please click one)
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4. How open are you about your sexual orientation?
(Please tick one for each
section.)
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5. How would you describe your ethnic background?(Please
click one)
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6. Which religion, religious denomination or body were
you brought up in? (Please
click one)
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7. Where do you live? - please write the first half
of your postcode
(for
example BT95)
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8. How would you describe the local neighbourhood in
which you live? (Please click one)
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9. Which of the following describes the way
you live at the moment? (Please
click all that apply)
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10.
Are you: (Please click
all that apply)
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11. Please indicate how much you will earn
this year - before paying tax or national insurance
contributions (Please click
one) :
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0 -£4,999
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£5,000
- £9,999 |
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£10,000
- £14,999 |
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£15,000
- £19,999 |
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£20,000
- £24,999 |
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£25,000
- £29,999 |
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Over
£30,000 |
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12. What is the highest level of educational
qualifications that you have reached? (Please
click one)
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SECTION
B: EXPERIENCES OF HOMOPHOBIC HARASSMENT
In this section we will ask you about unpleasant incidents
that have happened to you BECAUSE SOMEONE THOUGHT YOU WERE
LESBIAN, GAY OR BISEXUAL but which may not have been crimes.
This section deals only with homophobic HARASSMENT, such
as verbal insults - the next section deals with violence.
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14.
Has any of the following ever happened to you in Northern
Ireland? (Please click
all that apply).
N.B. Violence is dealt with in the next section.
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15. If any of the following has happened to you in
the last two years in Northern Ireland, please indicate number
of incidents by putting appropriate numbers in boxes:
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16. The following questions will ask about one incident
that happened to you - please indicate what type of incident
you will be referring to: (Please
click one)
**
In which year did this incident occur?
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17. What made you think that
this was a homophobic incident? (Please
click all that apply)
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18. At what time did this incident happen? (Please
click one)
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19. Were you the only victim of this incident?
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20. Thinking about this incident, where did it happen?
(Please click one)
Please give details of where
this happened to you - eg street name and city, or area
(OPTIONAL)
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21. About the person/people who did this to you: how
many of them were there?
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22. About the person/people who did this
to you: who were they?
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23. Again,
about the person/people who did this to you, please indicate
their age and sex:
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SECTION
C: EXPERIENCES OF HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE
In this section we will ask you about physical or sexual
assaults that have happened to you in Northern Ireland BECAUSE
SOMEONE THOUGHT YOU WERE LESBIAN, GAY OR BISEXUAL. This
section only deals with VIOLENT INCIDENTS, such as being
hit - the previous section deals with harassment.
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24. Has any of the following EVER happened to you
in Northern Ireland? (Please indicate by ticking boxes where
appropriate).
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25. If any of the following has happened to you in
the last two years in Northern Ireland, please indicate number
of incidents by putting appropriate numbers in boxes:
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26. The following questions will ask about one incident
that happened to you - please indicate what type of
incident you will be referring to: (please tick one).
**
In which year did this incident occur?
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27. What made you think that this was a homophobic
incident? (Please
click all that apply)
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28.
At what time did this incident happen? (Please
click one)
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29.
Were you the only victim of this incident?
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30. About your physical injuries: (please tick all
that apply)
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31.
Still thinking about this incident, where did it happen?
(Please click one)
Please give details of where
this happened to you - eg street name and city, or area
(OPTIONAL)
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32.
About the person/people who did this to you: how many of them
were there?
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33.
About the person/people who did this to you: who were they?
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34.
Again,
about the person/people who did this to you, please indicate
their age and sex:
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SECTION
D: : REPORTING HOMOPHOBIC
INCIDENTS
In this section we will ask you about your experiences of
reporting homophobic incidents that have happened to you
in Northern Ireland. PLEASE THINK IN PARTICULAR ABOUT ONE
INCIDENT of homophobic harassment and/or violence that you
may have written about in the previous pages.
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35. PLEASE THINK ABOUT ONE INCIDENT that you have
written about in the last two sections. What type of incident
will you be referring to in the following questions: (please
tick one). There is space at the end of this page to write
about this incident.
If
you have not experienced a homophobic incident,
please go to Section F
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36. Referring to this incident, please indicate if
you reported it, by ticking the appropriate box(es)?
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37. If you did report the incident to the police,
how did you go about this? (Please
click one) .
If
you didn’t report it to the police, please
go to Q43.
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38. If you did report the incident to the police, did
you tell them that you believed it occurred because you are
lesbian/gay/bisexual? (Please
click one)
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39. If you did report the incident to the
police, how was it recorded (to the best of your knowledge)?
(Please click one)
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40. If you did report the incident to the police, how
satisfied or dissatisfied were you with how they handled the
matter? (Please click one)
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41. If you did report the incident to the police, what
was the outcome? (Please
click one).
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42. If you did report the incident to the police, how
did your experience of them affect your readiness to report
incidents in the future? (Please
click one).
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43. If you did not report the incident to the police,
or were reluctant to do so, was it because of any of the following
reasons? (Please tick as many
as are appropriate)
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44. If you did report the incident to another
organisation or person, how satisfied or dissatisfied were
you with how they handled the matter (if
you went to more than one, please respond for the organisation
with which you had most contact)?
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SECTION
E: SEEKING SUPPORT AFTER HOMOPHOBIC INCIDENTS
In this section we will ask you about the SUPPORT you received
after experiencing a homophobic incident.
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45. After experiencing a homophobic incident, have
you ever sought support from any of the following? (Please
tick all that apply.)
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46.
If you did seek support, what type of help were you
looking for? (Please tick all
that apply.)
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47. In general, how satisfied were you with the support
you received? (Please tick one)
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48. If you did not seek support,
why was this? (Please tick all
that apply.)
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49. Please indicate how you have been affected
by your experiences of homophobic harassment or violence. (Please
tick as many as apply)
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SECTION
F: YOUR PERCEPTIONS OF SAFETY
In this section we will ask you to reflect on HOW SAFE YOU
FEEL.
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50. In general how safe do you feel in the following
places? Please indicate by selecting a number in each box
as follows:
1
= I feel very safe,
2 = I feel quite safe,
3 = I feel quite unsafe,
4 = I feel very unsafe.
5 = Don’t know
6 = Not applicable
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In your home |
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In
the streets outside your home /local neighbourhood |
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At work |
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In
gay bars |
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In
the streets outside gay bars |
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In
bars generally |
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In
the streets generally at night |
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In the streets generally during the day |
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51.
How likely do you think it that you will be the victim
of homophobic harassment or violence over the next twelve months?
(Please tick one box.)
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52. How often do you worry about your safety?
(Please tick one box.)
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SECTION
G: ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE
In this section we will ask you about your attitudes to
and knowledge of a number of different issues.
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53. Please tick boxes to show whether you avoid doing
any of the following in order to minimise the possibility
of homophobic harassment or violence against yourself:
| Holding
hands in public |
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| Telling
people that I am gay |
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| Appearing
obviously gay |
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| Using
public transport at night |
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| Leaving
gay venues alone |
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| Associating
with eg volunteering or attending LGB organisations /
informing others of association with LGB organizations |
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54.
Please list below any other strategies you use to minimize
the possibility of homophobic harassment or violence against
yourself:
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55. Please indicate if you would generally report the
following types of homophobic incidents to the police (please
tick one box in each row):
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56. If you would not report an incident to the police,
or would be hesitant about doing so, is this because of any
of the following reasons? (Tick
as many as are appropriate)
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57. Did you know that the police have a special form
(Form 80) for recording homophobic incidents?
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58. Have you seen the police leaflet: ‘Homophobic
Incidents - Protecting Your Rights!’ (either the
one produced by the RUC or by the PSNI)?
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59.
Please write below the names of any lesbian, gay or bisexual
organisations that you know of.
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60.
Please write below the names of any lesbian, gay or bisexual
organisations which you are a member of, or whose services
you have used.
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61.
What do you think needs to be done to combat homophobic harassment
in Northern Ireland? (Please
tick as many as are appropriate).
| Please use the following space to write
further comments, or to write about homophobic incidents
which you have experienced |
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THANK
YOU for completing the questionnaire - your help is
invaluable in helping to understand better the impact of homophobia,
and in helping to determine ways of dealing with it. We will
also be conducting focus groups and interviews on the issues
covered by the questionnaire - if you would be willing
to be involved, please contact our office for more information.
This information will be kept separate from your questionnaire,
ensuring that the questionnaire remains confidential.
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*** PLEASE CHECK OVER THE FORM TO ENSURE YOU
HAVE NOT MISSED ANY QUESTIONS ***
Once
you
are satisfied you have completed the form please click the "Submit"
button below.
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